Twists of Fate
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: ·Reincarnation· Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.

I'd been planning this out for the last couple of weeks and started doing this for nano (though I've had a base idea for this for about two years now or something). I wasn't sure about posting it here in the middle of it, but I probably won't come back to this once I'm done with it, soooo.

I'm a couple of parts ahead, so I'll be posting a couple at the same time until I catch up. And yeah, there'll be weird ending points.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Nakida exhaled, leaning back on the wall before stretching. They'd worked the panel off of the wall, and that was pretty much most of the physical work done already.<p>

Now they had to slip into the system before any of the guards spotted them. They ran a hand under their ponytail, lifting it away from their neck, swiping their thumb over the port there. It opened with a snap, and they let out a breath, feeling the cable there switch on, connecting with their mind.

It slipped out of the port at a thought, slithering around their fingers, about the same width, allowing them to pull the rest of it out.

At the end of the cable were a few hooks for grasping and they tested that they stilled worked, the metal clicking against each other.

Okay... Now for the next bit...

Their lips twitched at the familiar brightly coloured innards of the wall. For a company that was all about security systems and prided themselves on being the best in the market, it was ironic that they were all the same when it came down to it.

Now... Which one was the one they wanted...?

The security rooms tended to be close to their servers -it made for easier patrols if they knew the data they were supposed to be protecting was close by- but that would make things too _easy_ wouldn't it? And that would be just disappointing if that was true.

It wasn't like the guards needed to be physically close to it to protect it anyway.

Nakida snapped the claws around the cable they wanted, the edges slicing in like the protective covering didn't exist. They sucked in a breath as the claws connected to the system, the jolt something they'd gotten used to over the years. The first couple of times they'd done it, they'd ended up giving their position away with a yelp before coming to the conclusion to practice in a safer place rather than getting themselves caught.

Things had gone smoother after that.

Connecting to a system was always dizzying at the first connection, feeling that snap as the brain was no longer alone, the surge of new information that didn't stop or slow down.

Like the signal saying there was a breached point. Nakida snapped out their consciousness at that piece of information, following as it zigzagged, speeding along with unrelenting determination.

Nakida grabbed it at the last second, 'accepting' it as if they had always been the intended destination.

The alert faded, its mission complete and Nakida smiled, turning their attention to where it had been going. This cluster of data had to be where the security was. They brushed at the data, gaining access from the entrance the alert had given them. The camera feeds were…there…and now to find their body before someone noticed it.

Sixth floor, east staircase… Aha. They teased out the recording of the feed before they arrived, the images spilling over and they watched it as they looped it over their own image, erasing their presence like they'd never been there in the first place. They tucked the feed back where it belonged, and it settled in place like it had never been disturbed.

Next, they connected themselves to the camera feeds on that floor close to their body and adjacent ones, keeping them at the edge of their consciousness, giving themselves a warning system. There shouldn't be anyone wandering about, but it didn't hurt to be careful.

That was everything and now all they had to do was - hm?

There was movement on the upper floors. Not the staircases, but in the corridors. Was that where the security room was? That couldn't be right... Security was usually closer to the ground.

Nakida edged towards the particular feed, wary in case one of the guards' attention were drawn to it while they looked at it. Silver-haired male by the looks of it, with -Nakida switched perspective- no port at the back of his neck, huh. Unless he'd gotten surgery to cover it, but the outline was distinctive even with.

How had he gotten _there_? It was after hours and he wasn't wearing the guard uniform.

So he was either part of this (whatever 'this' was, but that was why Nakida was there to find out) or he was a fellow hacker.

Who didn't have a port at the back of his neck, which was one of the basic necessities of hacking. High-end hacking, anyway, and this was a company who prided itself on keeping hackers out.

But if he was doing it with a handheld, maybe.

Still. He was walking around in the open without caring about the cameras, unless it was an avatar to distract the guards. Because what was he doing near the roof?

It piqued Nakida's interest, and if they had different agendas, then they could both carry on with their business and leave each other out of it. If they had the same... Eh. It was doubtful.

Nakida drew back from the security feeds and prodded at the wireless. It was unlik... There was a device connected to it. Wow. How had the guy gotten in? Opened a window?

Accessing his communicator from there was easy, and hmm. Maybe the silver hair was an indication of something, even though he had a younger face than they did - Nakida hadn't seen an interface like this for a while. Did he like that look or did he not change his phone every year?

Call to self, and Nakida double-checked their avatar was in place while they waited. Their avatar was nearly completely opposite of what they actually looked like with pale skin and black hair, a white stripe thrown in for no particular reason other than they liked the look of it.

He picked up on the second ring, the man's face appearing before them. Huh. Scar on the right side of his lip. Where had he been at the time that he couldn't get the medicine to stop that from happening? Had something gone right through his head?

"Hel-" The man's eyes went wide at the sight of them. "_Tao_?" he spluttered.

"My my, it's nice to be recognised," Nakida said, resting their chin in a hand, grinning. Maybe the guy wasn't as green as they thought he was.

"Of-" The expression crashed, anger replacing it as the man lifted his upper lip, baring his teeth. "Who are you?"

Nakida raised an eyebrow. Did their avatar remind him of someone he knew? "Like you said: Tao." He'd just said that. What were chances they'd create an avatar with both the same name and face as someone who existed?

"You're not - you _can't_-" The man took in a breath and Nakida watched him get control back over himself, the lifted lip only twitching but staying in place. "What do you want?"

It was as if the man was growling. How old was the sound chip in there?

"Nothing, really," Nakida said with a shrug. They didn't miss how the man's eyes narrowed at the sight. "I just wanted to know what you were doing."

"Why the fuck should I tell you?"

Wow, touchy. The two must have parted on bad terms. Nakida dropped the smile, all business. "Because I need to know if we've got the same goal or not. If not, then we keep doing whatever and stay out of each other's way."

The man pursed his lips, considering. "And if we've got the same goal? We 'work together'?"

Nakida didn't miss the dripping sarcasm. They waved a hand, snorting. "I don't work well with others; I doubt you do either."

The glower deepened and it looked like Nakida was stamping on every single nerve he had by merely existing. Nothing new. They had that effect with some people.

There was buzzing behind Nakida and they turned their head towards it, stretching out their consciousness and hearing the agitated chatter of the guards. The man had been found.

"You're with the guards," he accused, lifting his chin, triumphant at catching Nakida out in the lie.

"Near the guards," Nakida corrected mildly, turning their attention back to him. They could use this. If the guards were distracted by that ass, they were free to take the information they wanted at their leisure. "Have fun!" They smiled one last time, making it as fake as possible and cut the connection, feeling the guards' presence disappear one by one as they left the system to re-enter their bodies.

There was one left to keep an eye on all the feeds and direct the others, but that was all they needed. Now the guards were on alert, the guard would be more zealous about guarding the information, pointing Nakida directly to it.

xOx

Huian gasped, her eyes snapping open as she reached back and disconnected the port from the machine. Switching from consciousness to being grounded in a physical body was disorientating every time, aware of the pulse of her heart, every breath she took, feeling so much more contained and smaller after being inside a system that sprawled the size of a city, but she didn't have time to adjust like usual. She rolled off the bed, her communicator already pinging, a message from Abi telling her where the intruder was.

But what was he doing? There were a few offices there, and that was where a number of the security systems were tested, but it was better to steal the details rather than the chance of picking up an older useless prototype. He hadn't seemed like he was searching for something either when Huian had seen him, so he knew exactly what he was looking for. But why hadn't he hidden himself? Had he thought he had? There were too many questions, too many things that didn't add up.

[He looks angry - be careful.]

[I'll be fine,] she replied.

Huian got a clap on the shoulder as she double-checked she had her taser ready.

"Good catch." Taller than she was (though that wasn't hard with Huian) Fadia was her senior, the kind that checked up on everyone, making sure they'd taken breaks. And when a person spent hours inside a system aware of every second, the click of the clock everywhere, and not connected to a body, it was far too easy to forget things like eating and toilet breaks were a necessity.

"Thanks," Huian said, quashing the light jittery feeling in her stomach with confidence. She'd been trained for this; this was her job and now she actually had to do it. It was the first time she'd had to (who would dare try to break into a security company?) but it wouldn't go wrong, she knew it. The team was good.

[I can't find him. It's like he disappeared.]

Dammit, they're taken too long talking. "Are any of the elevators moving?" she demanded, starting to move, hearing Fadia take another route.

[No.]

He had to have taken the stairs. "I'll take the east staircase." That had been the direction he'd been moving in the last she saw.

Her communicator blipped, the others saying their destinations and Huian kept going.

xOx

The guards had split up. Which is what Nakida had expected them to do and they watched the elevators –

Not move.

Wait. Were they taking the _stairs_? Why would security take those when they had the nice fast elevators that could take them where they wanted to in seconds?

If they didn't know where the intruder was and were covering the exit points.

…_Shit_! There was movement in one of the feeds they were connected to and Nakida got a flash of black hair and a guard uniform before tearing back to their own body.

Left here - move forward for this distance and-

Nakida's eyes snapped open as they inhaled sharply, the claws attached to the system already unhooked, their cable zipping back into their body. Everything was too noisy, hearing the energy pulse around them, but they couldn't take a moment to collect themselves. There was no time to replace the panel, not when the clattering footsteps were already far too close.

They used to be faster at re-orientating themselves, but maybe it was because it had been so long since they'd been close to being caught. The chase had been something they'd enjoyed before, but that was before, when they'd done this for fun, when they'd had no real reason to do any of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>They dashed onto the floor, puffing down a corridor. It wouldn't be long until the guard caught up.<p>

They were right, and they heard the stair door open with a minute squeak as they recovered their breath. It really _had_ been a while since they'd done anything like a 'chase', their pace more leisurely now.

And they couldn't wait too long, not when their modifications to the feeds had probably already been found and were getting restarted. Not that that would help, but the guard would probably get restless without guidance.

Which also meant they had to time this _just_ right.

The guard knew where they were, probably from her catching her breath, her footsteps no longer as slow, heading straight for their direction.

A little more... Nakida secured the hood around their head and dipped to their bag, pulling out their desired item and they twitched their lips as they got it. Then the removed their gloves and exhaled, awakening the cables in their wrists, drawing them out.

When the guard was a few steps away, Nakida dropped the item, the hoverboard sliding into its full size before it neared the ground and they jumped onto it, the hoverboard humming to life.

They only had a few more seconds until the guard was warned and they shoved off, zooming around the corner and they crouched down, gripping the edge with one of their cables. They jumped again, holding the hoverboard so they were both in the air, aiming for the guard.

Nakida caught sight of wide eyes before they crashed into the guard's arm, knocking the taser spinning into a wall. They crashed into the guard and Nakida snapped the cables out from where they were waiting from under the 'board, wrapping them around her.

As soon as the cables were securely around -it felt like a limb and torso- Nakida sent power charging through them, landing back on the ground and swerving back to see what was going on.

The guard was still, every muscle taut, and Nakida stopped charging. As soon as they did that the guard crumpled, and Nakida used their cables to keep them upright, lowering her to the ground.

Once the guard was down, Nakida drew back their cables and hopped off their 'board, approaching her from the side the guard wouldn't see. Who didn't move as they did anyway.

Nakida knelt down, pressing the back of their fingers to -they peered at the name plate- Huian's neck, checking her pulse. It was quick but strong and Nakida felt a prickle on their skin at the contact before it disappeared. Hm. Had they used too much power? Checking the wrist Nakida had bound... There was already a bruise developing. They really were out of practice. Something to keep in mind for next time.

That done, Nakida swept the area, making sure they hadn't left anything or dropped anything, secured their hood again and put on their gloves. Time to get out of there.

They picked up their 'board, not minimising it. The rest of the guards were probably about to burst down one of the doors, so they went through the stair doors, dropping the hoverboard and kicked off, using the banisters to careen around corners, their speed barely slowing with each turn.

xOx

Shit! There was movement and sounds around Huian but she couldn't move. She didn't care. She'd failed. The first time to prove herself in the job and she'd gotten knocked out in barely a few seconds.

That wasn't a face she recognised. Black hair, dark skin, with a wide jaw. Unless that attack had scrambled some of her brain, Huian was sure the person hovering over her wasn't one of the the guards, especially since she wasn't wearing a uniform.

"Ah, can you move?" The stranger looked away before Huian could answer and Fadia's face took up the rest of the space, her eyebrows at a worried slant that Huian had never seen before.

"Are you with us now?" Fadia asked, a hand on her shoulder.

Huian tried to nod (she always had been, just unable to respond) and the movement was jerky, her muscles still not under her full control. Shit.

"It's fine," Fadia continued, giving her a soothing smile. "Give it time."

It wasn't! She'd let the intruder get away! All the data was probably taken. Huian worked her mouth, trying to say something, but all she achieved was gaping like a fish. Which was how useful she'd been throughout this entire time.

Fadia patted her. "Abi hasn't seen anything amiss. Rest - the paramedics will be arriving soon."

The para – no. "I – d-" Why wouldn't her body _listen to her_? She didn't need them; she'd recover fast enough without their help. "No."

She got a blink in response. "Huian, you need to be checked over."

"I'll-" She huffed. Trying to stubborn her way to talk wasn't working. And she could feel the vibrations of footsteps getting closer. Damn.

"Huian, is it?" Fadia's and the other woman's face left, replaced by another new one. "Can you respond?"

She nodded, resigning herself to be checked over.

xOx

The streets were nice and quiet at this time of night, only a few cars whirring in the distance. Nakida breezed along on their 'board, taking a winding route through the backstreets, avoiding bright lights. They'd hacked into the police chatter while they'd moved, listening for a 'dark-skinned redhead' mention, but there wasn't one. Either no-one had seen them properly at the company, or it was only a matter of time until the call went out. Or maybe it wouldn't go out, because who would trust a security company that got broken into? They would lose sales that way.

And what better way to hide something than to place it in a building centred around security?

It would be better to buy a bottle of dye for their hair though, just in case. It was due for a change anyway. Maybe purple this time?

They'd missed out tonight, but that didn't mean the door was shut forever. So long as that ass didn't show up again. Hmm… They couldn't risk going in again, not if the same thing would happen.

In that case, they had to find the silver-haired guy and see what his plan was. If he'd gotten out, and he should have, unless he'd panicked. The guards would have been distracted by looking after Huian. And to find the silver-haired guy's plan, they needed to find out who the guy was and how to get in contact with him. Which was Nakida's daily living, so it shouldn't take too long.

From his initial reaction, Nakida had the feeling he would rather punch them in the face than tell them what he was going to do, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Especially since they'd be asking from behind a screen, hah.

xOx

"There were two," Huian repeated, holding the blanket over her shoulders. "The one I encountered didn't look anything like the guy on the feeds. Dark-skinned," she said, pursing her lips, trying to remember anything else, but there wasn't anything else. Just a blur, not enough for her to take in any more details apart from the colour of clothes.

"Maybe," Fadia mused, running a hand through her own hair.

"It had to be!" Huian burst out. What other explanation was there?

"The first one was an avatar to distract us on the upper levels while he worked away at the system."

Oh. Huian worked her mouth and then closed it with a click. That made sense.

"You seem to be in good health," the paramedic said, packing her instruments away and closing her kit. _Finally_. And Huian had _told_ her she was fine. "But if your muscles start to ache, go to the hospital immediately."

"All right," Huian said, nodding. She'd spent enough energy arguing about her health and the faster she could get home the better.

"I can take you home," Joyce, the person who Nakida hadn't recognised earlier, offered. She'd introduced herself while Huian got poked and prodded. "To make sure you get home safely."

"I'll-" Huian huffed, screwing her eyes shut. All she wanted to do was go home, not have someone there.

"It's a good idea," Fadia said and she was using her soothing but 'that's an order' voice. For when someone wasn't listening to reason and it was something that everyone else could see was needed. Dammit.

"Fine," she said, her lips pursed and she clutched the blanket tighter or a second tighter, swallowing her pride. "I'll go."

Joyce gave her a relieved smile and Fadia nodded, stretching. "You don't need to come in tomorrow, so take the day off and make sure you rest, okay?"

"Yeah," Huian mumbled. More time to wallow in how much she'd failed. Great. It would have been better if she could have distracted herself with work, but there was no arguing with Fadia if it had something to do with someone's health.

"My car's downstairs," Joyce said and Huian got to her feet, ready to follow. Almost. The corridor brightened for a dangerous second, like the light was trying to swallow her up. She took a few breaths, the lightheadedness fading. Her legs could take her weight and didn't seem like they'd give under her thankfully.

"Sleep," Fadia said. "You've earned it."

The praise didn't feel as good this time, tempered with the bitter knowledge of failure.

xOx

Joyce's car wasn't automated, not having voice command, so Joyce was actually behind a wheel, steering it. The interior was different from what Huian was used to with not as much space in the middle, the seats not facing each other for easier communication.

Which didn't make Huian feel that much better, not when automated cars were far more reliable. She'd read accidents had dropped since automated cars came into production, since they could react far faster than humans ever could, and weren't capable of getting drunk or being affected by drugs. Hackers on the other hand...

Huian watched Joyce's confident movements, her hands knowing exactly where everything was without a second guess. Maybe being human-driven wasn't always a bad thing.

"What were you doing there anyway?" Huian asked, shifting her attention to outside the window, watching the city zip past. The music was boring and talking was better than silence, those last few seconds looping in her head.

"Are you asking because you're curious or because it's your job?" The thread of amusement was clear to hear and Huian shrugged one shoulder, rolling up a sleeve out of habit.

"Both." She sighed, fogging up the plastic in front of her face. There would be a couple people who came into the building after hours, sometimes because they'd forgotten something, but it was usually work related.

"I have to finish typing up a report, but I'd left the last pages in my desk," Joyce said with a chuckle. "I wouldn't have time to finish it in the morning, since it's _for_ morning."

Huian blinked, glancing at her. "You found out _now_?" It was two in the morning. How had she left it until two in the _morning_ to finish it?

"We work on multiple projects at once," Joyce said, answering her unsaid question. Probably read it on her face, and Huian turned her face away more, the blanket crinkling. "And everyone wants results all at once too. Especially since technology is constantly adapting so we have to keep updating it."

"Hm."

"But that means I still have a job so I don't mind. Much." Joyce peered at the gps on her dash and then indicated to go right, the signal clicking with a certain rhythm, like a hypnotising beat, trying to put Huian under its spell. "Nearly there..."

They were, the car turning into Huian's street. "It's that one," Huian said, pointing at her front door.

Joyce parked the car and Huian got out, throwing back a belated "Thanks" just before she closed the door. The ride seemed to have helped, Huian feeling steadier on her feet now.

Even in the time it took for Huian to get to her front door, Joyce was still there, waiting, waving as Huian opened the door. She waved back, watching Joyce leave and once she'd shut the door, she scowled, squeezing her eyes shut as she yanked the blanket off her shoulders and dumped it in the bin.

She wasn't going to sleep any time soon, that was for sure, so now she had to go find something to do to distract her brain from reminding her of all the events that had happened.

xOx

Huh. Nakida sat cross-legged on their bed, their screen sprawled around them in a semi-circle. The room smelled of dye, but their hair was the shade they wanted it to be. As is dried, they'd started their search on the silver-haired guy, expecting either having a lot of data or having to spend more time trying to dig it up on their target, but they'd gotten a lot of data.

A _lot_ of it.

It wasn't as if the man hadn't tried to hide his tracks, but face recognition technology was a wonderful thing. He'd tried to hide his scar a few times, making it smaller or hiding it as best as he could, but it was still something that could be picked up on. His hair had gone through a few dye jobs in his time, and he'd used glasses at some point. Which wasn't helping Nakida's assessment that the guy was an older man than they were with a young body. Who wore glasses now? Most people got their eyes fixed or wore contacts if they needed it.

The problem was, the data on the guy went back more than a _century_.

Passports, drivers' licenses, bank details. There was everything a person needed to make their identity valid and have access to certain things, but they went back too _far_. Alias after alias after alias. All with the same face, the exact same stats attached (maybe a slight fluctuation in weight, but nothing big) and no wrinkles to be seen.

Nakida would have thought it had been a botched job, someone using stock photos, but it didn't feel right.

Not when there were other photos attached, jobs the guy had worked as, from metalworker to teacher to a multitude of other things in between. A number of the shots had been candid, and it could have been set up, the guy worming himself in to prove his previous jobs.

The guy seemed sad. Nakida knew body language and he held himself back from the other people in the photos, accepting their touch, but seemingly not reaching out himself.

Always single, never married. Sometimes he stayed in a job for several years, others only a few weeks. No extended family, apart from two dads on his emergency contact lists.

Some things were standard with someone on the run or hiding from something but there was still that niggling off feeling.

He _could_ have gotten surgery to get rid of signs of aging, but he didn't move like it. A person could change their face, but their body under the surface had its limitations, even with modifications.

There was also the possibility of him coming from a series of clones. It wasn't impossible; Nakida had seen the results of that. For what reason?

Argh, they were digging for too much details again. They'd gotten what they wanted - the phone number had stayed the same for a while, lasting for about a decade before it was changed. No wonder the interface for his communicator seemed old - it _was_.

Nakida minimised the windows, leaning back on their bed and rang... What was his current name right now? Lee Kang-dae? They checked the latest name and nodded. Lee Kang-dae.

He picked up on the fourth ring, his lips already thin, the skin around his eyes tense like he was trying not to glare. At the sight of their avatar, he exhaled, a muscle in his jaw tensing. Behind him was a non-descript room, a blank wall with a light on.

"So you got out then," Nakida said with a wave, slipping into their cheery persona.

"Yeah." Kang-dae studied them for a second and then said, "I want to meet."

"Eeeh, how forward of you!" The waggled their fingers at him, grinning. It was never going to happen.

Kang-dae twitched at the tease, but didn't seem flustered.

"Sorry, but I'm pretty shy - that's why I'm calling you instead." With their free hand, Nakida started tracking where his communicator was broadcasting.

Kang-dae sighed, closing his eyes for a second. "Fine. Why'd you call?"

That...was calmer than Nakida had expected. Was he just grouchier when he was in the middle of a job?

"You're an interesting guy." They weren't lying, and Kang-dae opened his eyes again. "And I want to know if you're going back there so I'll know to go on a different day." Before or after, they weren't sure which one.

Kang-dae stilled. "Why did you go there anyway? What were you doing?"

Nakida tilted their head, drawing their eyebrows in, and that wasn't part of the act. "You know me-" He recognised their avatar and said their name. "-but you don't know what I do?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Except Nakida already knew that from how he'd reacted before. Their avatar had been someone he knew. Or there was a copycat about. They should look into that; Tao was <em>theirs<em> and they'd taken a lot of time in making their reputation.

Kang-dae worked his mouth, but ended up not saying anything, his gaze sliding away.

"I get information," Nakida said, settling back against the wall. Maybe they could get Kang-dae to tell them more if they seemed more open. "Expose it to the public." Sometimes it worked; sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it drove the people further underground but Nakida hoped it made a good different to some people.

His attention snapped back to her, his gaze sharp. "Leave that building alone."

The tone was all order and it got Nakida's back up. Someone telling them what to do, expecting to be listened to? That was why they worked alone; they'd had enough of that when they were younger.

"It's dangerous."

"Oooh?" Kang-dae sucked in a breath at that, his eyes flicking to their raised eyebrows. "I've done dangerous things before." And they'd always gotten out of it.

"This isn't the same! They could-" He cut himself off with a hiss, his jaw clenched.

Damn, Nakida hoped he would have let more slip. "Don't worry," they said with a wave, "they won't."

"_Ta_-"

Nakida hung up before he could finish, removing their communicator before the screen had cleared. Really, he was annoying, assuming they didn't know what they were doing.

Using one of their cables, they overloaded the communicator so it wasn't useable anymore and replaced it with the communicator they'd bought alongside their dye.

When that was done, the smoking husk in the bin, Nakida checked where Kang-dae's communicator came from.

[UNABLE TO FIND] flashed in a slow beat on their screen in red.

...Interesting. He didn't seem like he hacked, didn't know who they were, but his communicator was upgraded to block a casual tracker.

Who was he connected to that would do that? Or had he been working with someone but left or got kicked out? What did he know about the security company that they didn't?

Hmm. They hadn't gotten the answer they wanted, only more questions, but it was something they could mull over while they searched for another inn to stay in. Then, they could sleep.

xOx

Fucking dammit! M-21 thunked his head back on the headboard, his communicator saying Tao -or whoever it was- had hung up.

He had been reckless, hoping when he knew he shouldn't, letting his words tumble out before thinking. Because - fuck. It was Tao.

It was Tao but it wasn't. He'd seen Takeo and Tao die in front of him, their blood running over the rooftops, the life fading from their eyes. It couldn't be the Tao he knew.

But…

That had been over a hundred years ago. It wasn't like the situation with Mark, someone pretending to be someone he knew to gain access to their home.

This Tao didn't know who he was.

Could it happen? Someone being born who looked like Tao, even having the same name? Down to the white stripe and black suit?

It could still be a Union trick, which was why he'd left the building instead of dealing with the guards and trying to find the entrance manually. If the Union knew who he was and used that against him to spook him… And it had worked. It had been far too long since M-21 had seen either of the faces that it was a shock to see Tao responding to him.

The Union could have saved Take and Tao's DNA from that fight, keeping it to use for later. But this Tao didn't move or talk the same way as the Tao he knew, though he still had the habit of doing what he wanted if someone told him not to.

Argh! M-21 scrubbed his hair with a hand, swiping his hair out of his eyes. That was if this Tao knew him. And he didn't. Who would trust the word of a stranger?

If that was someone who wasn't connected to the Union, M-21 could have sent him to be picked up at experimental material.

But so far, that Tao was dealing with the front of the Union, and if he was caught, he would just be arrested.

M-21 sighed, rubbing the sides of his forehead, trying to stay his building headache. There were too many questions he couldn't answer, too many thing he didn't know, and a couple of those had been his own fault since he'd reacted first rather than think.

He switched windows on his communicator, speed dialling Frankenstein; he could help settle his mind.

Frankenstein's face flicked into view. "Pap-" Frankenstein's hair was mussed and spread over the pillow he was resting on. Shit. He'd woken him up. "Never mind," he said, reaching for the end call button. "It doesn't-"

"21," Frankenstein said, covering a yawn. "If you felt the need to call me in the middle of the night, something's clearly troubling you." He pulled himself upright, the blanket falling away. "What's wrong?"

"It's…" M-21 sighed, closing his eyes. He wanted to say 'nothing' and let Frankenstein sleep. "I think I found Tao." But he couldn't let the topic drop either.

Frankenstein didn't say anything, letting him get the words out.

"It's not like Mark's situation – he wasn't pretending to know me and he didn't act exactly like him. But it was close enough." Like someone had been given a basic idea of who Tao was and then asked to remake that without checking back.

"Is reincarnation possible?" M-21 asked, fiddling with a sleeve. That was the only other option M-21 could think of that didn't involve the Union or some kind of trickery.

Frankenstein hummed. "Noble clan leaders are able to pass their soul on to their soul weapon, but he already knew that." He shook his head, sweeping his hair away from his face. "Master and I haven't known for it to happen – that doesn't negate the possibility that it could."

So it _could_ be Tao.

"Are you sure it could be him?" Frankenstein asked after a pause.

"I'll find out." He had to know what was going on before trying to find the Union entrance again.

"Ah, 21," Frankenstein said just as he was reaching to end the call.

"Yeah?"

"Have you been eating well?" Frankenstein peered at him.

A small weight in M-21's heart lifted at the question and he smiled. "Yeah." He should catch up with him anyway; it had been a while since he'd called home.

xOx

The bruises wrapped around Huian's arm and waist was dark next day, though there was barely any swelling. She'd had lunch after sleeping through breakfast and the weather was matching her mood with dark skies and non-stop rain. Which meant she was trapped inside her house because trying to slog through the rain would only make her feel worse. It would distract her from her thoughts, but not in a way she wanted.

The moments were still repeating in her head, of what else she could have done. It would have been different if she'd held back for that one second, if she hadn't rushed forward, if she'd waited for Abi to tell her where the intruder was. Then the intruder would have been caught by her hand.

Then the intruder would have been caught by her hand.

She rested her forehead on her hands. Urgh, how was this going to look to - wait, wasn't she supposed to fill in an incident report or something? Huian frowned and reached for her communicator, dialing work. None of the night shift would be on, but the day shift would know about break in.

The face that picked up was someone Huian recognised but couldn't place the name. They'd met at one of the holiday parties, but that was all Huian could get from her face.

She braced herself for any questions and said, "Can you send me the incident report sheet?" before the other could say anything.

The other woman nodded. "For last night?" She glanced away and Huian could hear the chime of her tapping out commands.

Obviously. Why else would she ask? "Yeah. Just send it to my communicator."

"One second and… Done!"

"Okay, thanks." She hung up as soon as she got it.

Now she could actually _do_ something with that repeated loop in her head and at least fill the sheet out while it was fresh in her head.

xOx

M-21's search for information about Tao had turned up a number of results, of varying detail. He was some sort of vigilante who snuck into places and exposed the underhand workings going on there. Which was what this Tao had told him. And it was something the Tao M-21 knew would do if he was feeling vindictive enough, but not attach his name to.

A few times, this Tao left a message and he changed if he sent the information to the police or the journalists, but that was probably because they might have had their own hand in the dealings.

It explained why Tao seemed confident dealing with this, but he didn't know the Union.

What was left of it, anyway. They'd been gaining power again over the last few years and the household had kept an ear out on any labs that popped up, the security company being one of the latest ones they had found out about.

He eyed his communicator and then shook his head, getting to his feet. He'd have lunch and then think about what to do next. Tao's number had been private when he'd called, so the only way he could get in touch was if Tao contacted him first.

xOx

So far, Nakida hadn't seen Kang-dae on the feeds, and neither had the guard stationed specifically to watch the feeds. The guards were more vigilant this time, Nakida having to keep their distance, but all in all, it was mostly the same. The system hadn't been upgraded yet, the team unable to implement whatever they were doing to 'fix' the weakness in time, which was why Nakida had chosen to go the night after. It was a small window, but still useable.

* * *

><p>Yes, M-21 calls Frankenstein 'papa'. X3 He calls Rai 'dad' as well as calling him 'Rai' in his head. It was Tao's idea, and it stuck.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>It also meant the guards were more zealous over what they were supposed to be protecting, and pointing Nakida straight to them.<p>

They'd hidden their body in time - being hooked up to the system helped the guards have a wider coverage, but there was still only a limited amount they could process at one time and Nakida knew roughly where the cameras they wanted to alter were on the feeds.

And if they had the time, they would be taking a copy of the feeds from the night before to see how Kang-dae got in and out.

xOx

In some ways, hacking wasn't that different from trying to physically steal something - there was an object located somewhere that was protected by a variety of different things that needed to be surpassed.

But doing it within a system levelled the playing field, so it didn't matter as much what a person's physical state was, if their mind was sharp and able to work with the speed and malleability in the system, then they were the ones with the advantage.

Nakida didn't so much step towards where a number of the guards were focused on as float - the senses were expanded in a system, able to take in more at a time. If the person was willing to go that far. Most kept to a reasonably human shape because that was what they were used to. That, and the stories of people reaching out too far, stretching themselves out so much that they became part of the system they were inside, bodies left as an empty husk, or only with part of the original person left.

Maybe Nakida had an affinity with systems or it had been all the time they'd spent around technology, but they hadn't seemed to have that problem, able to keep their sense of self even when they'd changed their 'shape' to fit more with the system. Guards listened out for footsteps, something that stood out, that didn't pulse with an even beat.

And because most tried to keep their selves as in tact as possible, the image they formed inside the system was usually a copy of themselves.

That fact had been what had helped Nakida stay away the net over the years, being able to change the way they looked inside a system.

There were a number of places of interest, and this would be a waiting game, waiting until the guard was distracted or had to take a break.

xOx

Nakida swiped the port at the back of their neck a few hours later in their new inn, bringing out the cable and sending it towards their console, hooking their brain up to it, downloading the mass of information they'd gained from the company. It was more than they'd expected - they'd have to upgrade their data storage at some point soon.

While their console got the data, Nakida spent the time doodling nondescript things in their room on their communicator, things that wouldn't take too much processing away from the download. Sometimes they drew people while they got through the times they wouldn't do anything, but it depended on how they were feeling at the time.

They were yawning by the time the upload was done, and they glanced back at what they'd done without thinking as they started up the application to start decoding everything. It was Kang-dae with the beginning sketch a long haired person who had their arm around him. They must have been thinking about one of the many pictures they'd seen of him while doing that.

It was weird that they'd drawn the guy smiling though, but both their brain and body was demanding sleep and like the rest of the drawing, it was probably something they'd done without realising it.

They deleted the picture, set their console to the side and crawled into bed, falling asleep within minutes.

xOx

Their console was still working away when they woke up again just before midday. That wasn't the only piece of information they'd been able to get, and they opened up the upper level floor feeds of the previous night, narrowing down the time frame and trying to find when exactly Kang-dae entered the building.

Nakida blinked when they saw him first exit from one of the offices. They skipped back but they didn't see him enter the room.

That… They leaned back in disbelief. Had he _literally_ came in through a window? The windows in the offices were usually tall and opened at the top - big enough for someone to squeeze through if they were determined. If they could _reach_. The windows on the upper floors didn't tend to be alarmed either, because the chances of someone doing that was slim, and it was a waste of money to cover every single window.

He seemed interested by the elevators, eyeing them for a few seconds before continuing on. What was his plan…? Was it the same as theirs – trying to uncover something about the company?

They'd reached the point where they'd gotten in touch with him. His body language from what Nakida could originally see didn't surprise him, the man's hand clenching into a fist out of view, his walk stiffer than it had been before they'd called.

When the call was finished, Kang-dae stood there for a few seconds not doing anything and then he –

What?

Nakida stopped the feed and skipped back, playing it again, leaning closer to make sure.

…No, they'd been right. Kang-dae turned around and then disappeared from sight.

Had he hacked into the feeds and erased his presence? But why do it _then_ instead of – had _they_ been the distraction instead the other way around?

Nakida curled one corner of their lips up. If it was, damn. They would have gotten all of the guards' attention when they'd been found, everything stopping as they looked after Huian.

But that was if he'd known they were going to be found.

Hm.

They skipped back the feed again, playing it one more time one frame at a time.

He turned. Blurred. Then disappeared.

Nakida frowned again. If he'd erased his presence, it would have been a clean cut – he was on screen and then he was gone. There shouldn't be any blurring.

With that in mind, they widened the scope of the feeds, slowing everything down so the screens ticked by frame by frame.

They picked out a blur three cameras away from where Kang-dae had last stood only six frames later.

That… He _couldn't_ be moving that fast.

Except he was. Or something was, a blur popping up every couple of frames, heading for higher up, probably where he'd entered.

How-?

There had been human experiments, people trying to enhance humans past what regular drugs to do. It was why Nakida had access to be able to put ports in their body. Stories of chimeras being made, trying to implant animal DNA into human to make them stronger.

But they'd never worked, the bodies usually failing within a short period of time, barely getting to adulthood, the DNA tearing the body apart, a balance never getting struck between them.

Or was that just what the public had been told? So they wouldn't worry, would think that they were safe when there really were people who could lift several times their own weight or run faster than the eye could see, live longer than any regular human could?

And why was someone like that interested in this security company?

xOx

Huian stared at Fadia behind her desk. "You can't be serious." That didn't make sense.

"I am." Fadia slid the document over, letting Huian see it.

It was as Fuian said: she was getting promoted. Two days after letting a hacker get away. "But _why_?" she burst out.

"You were the one who noticed the hacker on the feeds, as well as the first one to intercept-"

"Anyone would have seen him on the feeds! And it was because I was in that stairwell I found him!" Those weren't accomplishments; it was only luck that she'd gotten to it first.

Fadia shook her head. "It's already been set - you're leaving at the end of the week."

They were sending her away. _That_ was the real reason she was getting 'promoted'. "Fine." With a tight jaw, she swiped the document to her communicator and walked out.

xOx

They were giving her a bigger place, Huian read in the document. She was also being sent to another damn _country_. But… It did seem like she was moving up…

It just felt empty to her.

"Ah, Huian?"

She looked up, and blinked at…Joyce's face at the doorway. They bowed in greeting and Joyce glanced at the document hovering in front of Huian. Huian let it hover there.

"I was wondering if you wanted a coffee from down the road." She lifted the take-out cup in her hand.

That was the better than what they could get here. "What's in it?" Huian asked, studying the cup, her eyebrows drawn in. Why was Joyce offering?

"Black at the moment, since I don't know what you like."

"That's…fine," she said, still peering at Joyce. "We've got stuff we can add here. Why…?"

"I wanted to check on you," Joyce said with a smile, coming in and holding the cup out to her.

"I only had a couple of bruises," Huian said, shrugging as she took the offered cup. She set it down, wrapping her hands around it, warming them. "I didn't have any of the symptoms they warned me about." It felt as if the hacker had only used a cable to hit her, not shock her as well.

"That's good." Joyce glanced at the document again, her lips going at a wry angle. "Am I allowed to ask what that is?" Then she laughed, holding up her hands. "I'm sorry – I'm one of those really curious people who asks about everything."

"Ye-" Huian huffed, grimacing a little as her thoughts went back to it. "I'm being promoted." Joyce would find out eventually if she kept visiting.

"Really?" Joyce gave her a bright smile. "Congrats!"

"Yeah…" Huian shifted in her chair, not looking at her as she tugged on a sleeve.

"…You're not happy about it…?"

She sighed, tugging harder. "I don't deserve it."

"Someone thinks you do," Joyce pointed out.

Or they wanted her gone, but Huian didn't say that out loud. She closed her eyes instead. "I can't decline it, so this is my last week here." If someone got a promotion, they were expected to go where they were told. It would be a hassle to start anew somewhere else, but at least the company took care of her accommodation; not all did that.

"Ooh. So when's you're leaving party?"

Huian opened her eyes to blink at Joyce. Leaving party…? Right, she'd probably have one of those, wouldn't she? "I don't know."

"Well, when you do know, tell me?" Joyce swiped at her own communicator and checked the time. "And I need to finish some more reports, so I'll speak with you later!" She bowed and turned, already moving towards the door.

Huian stared after her. "How many reports do you do a week?" Joyce had come in a few nights ago to retrieve notes for one and she had to complete more already?

"Usually two or three." Every _week_? Joyce's smile turned into a grin at Huian's expression. "You get used to it."

Which was why she was coming back to work in the middle of the night several time a week. Joyce was gone before she could say anything and Huian shook her head, bringing her attention back to the coffee and the document.

There really wasn't anything she could do now except concentrate back on work. She'd stewed enough on it already. Once she'd finished the coffee, she'd go back into the system.

xOx

Nakida's console had finished decoding everything and now they had the monumental task of going through all of the data, making sense of it and trying to find where the discrepancies were, if they could find anything that was amiss.

* * *

><p>Sure, some sort of random info-dump of worldbuilding, pfft.<p>

Huian has a diamond-shaped tattoo on her wrist. I'm not sure which, but she's got on. I just don't know how to show it. Maybe Joyce asking when she and Huian were in the car. That was part of the reason why Huian had been fiddling with her cuff.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Reincarnation fic! :D Written for nano! So expect some weirdness as I churn this out, haha.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>They settled down in their bed with a few sandwiches and drinks within reaching distance for when they remembered to eat, opened up the first document from one of the clusters and started reading.<p>

xOx

Nakida squinted at the windows around them, the headache behind their eyes not changing. They slumped back, reaching over a bottle, but when they picked it up it was empty. Damn.

When was the last time they moved? Going by the numbness in their ass, probably a couple of hours.

It had been a couple of days since they'd started reading but other than finding out how the company was planning to upgrade their technology (which was useful, but not what they needed right now), they hadn't found anything that could point to there something being off about the company.

They had a few more clusters left to read, and they blinked at the next one they opened. It was the list of all employees in the company; that was standard to be protected, seeing how it listed all the data about the person. There was also a tab for another list, and Nakida opened that.

At a glance it was just another list of employees. A much shorter list, and Cheung Huian was at the list. …Huh.

It had been updated a few days ago, after their break-in, and when Nakida clicked on their profile, they saw Huian had been promoted. That was interesting. After what had happened? Nakida clicked on the other people on the list and those people were the same – they'd all been promoted.

The list was too small to be all the promotions though and promotions were usually kept in the profile, not keeping the people separate.

An uneasy feeling started swirling inside Nakida's stomach. They might have found what they had been looking for. The discrepancy, something that didn't quite fit right with everything else.

Pulling up a number of fresh windows, Nakida began opening up more of the profiles and double-checking when they had last been active.

Huian was still around, having bought something about lunch (and Nakida had to get something to eat; it was past dinner now, the sky dark through their curtains) so they left it.

The next name had transferred to another country and… Nakida frowned. His bank account hadn't been touched since they transferred, and there hadn't been a house saved in his name at the time of transfer.

Shit.

The third name in the list transferred to another country, her bank account hadn't been touched since, and there was no record of a house being saved in her name.

It was the same with the fourth, and the fifth, and the same story kept repeating over and over as Nakida went down it.

It took Nakida a while to realise the list went back decades, not months or years. It was barely one every few years; not something people would really notice, especially if there were other promotions going on in between them.

Moving to another country meant no-one would question if that person didn't keep in touch with the different time zones. Especially if they'd just gotten promoted. They would have been too busy getting used to their new responsibilities.

Was it a kill list or kidnappings?

And with how long it had been going on, was it institutionalised in the company or…

They sighed, chewing their lip. How long was there between the person being promoted and then disappearing? Nakida still had the windows up and… Less than a week. Which made sense, with how fast they were usually processed. And with a prestigious company that looked after its employees, that would smoothen and quicken the process if the victim had thought everything had been 'taken care of'.

And nearly a week had passed since Huian's promotion. Shit. She was either going to be (or already had been) picked up today, or it would happen in the next few days.

Huian had been active a few hours ago but that didn't mean she still was.

They had to find her fast before she was picked up. Getting the police involved… Nakida didn't know if the police knew what was going on and wasn't doing anything, if they would be wasting precious time trying to convince the police if they weren't involved. The police would have to read and verify what had happened to the 'promoted' people and would question how the data had been gotten.

By the time the police were willing to listen to the evidence, it could be too late for Huian.

But there was one person who seemed to already know what was going on and could believe them straight away. Who might be able to reach Huian in time.

Could they trust Kang-dae though? He had seemed concerned about their safety – or he was doing that to keep them away from the company's secrets?

Nakida squeezed their eyes shut. They would find out soon enough. Making sure Huian wasn't added to the list was the priority now.

Kang-dae's details were... There. They dialed his number and started a different search, telling the console to tell them if the promoted people had anything in common, if there was something there they could _use_.

It didn't take Kang-dae long to pick up, and he didn't look as pissed off, studying Nakida more.

"…Why are you calling…?"

Definitely different this time. Maybe he'd had a chat with whoever he was connected to or something. "I've got a couple reasons – one being more trustworthy than the police." They hoped.

He snorted, his lip twisting up. "You don't know that."

And if he was trying to warn them away about that rather than agreeing and trying to gain their trust, that meant he _was_ more trustworthy than the police. Even if he didn't believe it himself.

"You're also pretty fast on your feet." Were they going to have to dance the issue? Nakida had modified their new communicator so calls couldn't be listened to, but they couldn't blurt out what they knew, not when they didn't know how Kang-dae would react.

Kang-dae's shoulders tensed for a second before relaxing. "What about it?"

Nakida exhaled, calming themself down. "I found some information about the security company." Their console blipped, telling them it had finished the comparison. They glanced at it, looking over the results.

"Yeah? What did you find?" His tone was sharper, demanding, but Nakida ignored it as they read over the results.

When they looked back at him, Kang-dae was leaning towards his screen, his jaw clenched. He wanted the information, that was for certain. His eyes were dark though, shadowed, not bright and eager for it.

"There's a list of people," they said, still watching his reactions, but a bit of their wariness was gone, "that disappeared since they were promoted." They continued when they paused for a second and it didn't look like he would interrupt. "They were all in a special program when they were young-"

"_Shit!_" Kang-dae shoved himself away, a _snarl_ ripping from his throat.

So…he knew what that meant, then.

"They were all only children, weren't they?" He was glowering, a deep crease between his brows, but Kang-dae wasn't focused on them, his breathing harsh.

So there would be less chance of someone trying to look for the missing people? "No." Nakida shook their head. It would have come up if that had been true.

Surprise flashed across Kang-dae's face and Nakida decided to humour him. He knew something, so if he thought the people would be only children…

They clicked over the profiles and – he was right.

"Not only children." They saw his focus snap to them again. "Some had siblings, but they died one way or another so they're only children now." There didn't seem to be a common factor with them – some had died before the person had been accepted into the special program while others died after. And there had been different deaths, from illness to the rare malfunctioning car and running the sibling over.

"Fucking-" He started swearing under his breath in a couple of languages Nakida didn't know.

"There's one person on the list who hasn't disappeared, but she probably will soon."

"Who?"

"Cheung Huian," Nakida told him. "She's-"

"Okay." There was something about that tone. Final. "You have to stay out of this."

What. Nakida narrowed their eyes at him. "Because it's dangerous?" He'd already said that.

"Yes," he hissed. "You haven't gone up against something like the Union before."

"The Union," they repeated in disbelief. Kang-dae grimaced. A slip? "They don't exist." The Union was some old myth to scare people, an organisation that controlled everything from the shadows. If they really did exist, Nakida would have heard _something_ about them by now.

"Because they're – it doesn't matter."

"Of course it doesn't." Nakida clenched their jaw, glaring at him. "I'm not walking away from this."

"Even if it gets you killed? Or worse?"

"And the people who already have?" they shot back.

"_Tao_-" And there was that tone again, frustrated but expecting that Nakida would _obey_ him with no complaint. "-you can't-"

Nakida's temper flared. "Are you really wasting time arguing about my safety over someone who could be getting kidnapped right now, _Kang-dae_?"

They saw his eyes widen before they closed the call.

"Fucking _asshole_!" So much for getting help from him.

They had to direct their energy into finding Huian. There still hadn't been any transactions from their account, but maybe they could get a lead from the list itself.

Who was the last person who edited the list? It only took a few taps to find out: Jocelyne Flores. Who was the only editor of the list. Dammit.

Concentrate. Calm down.

Nakida closed their eyes and took in a deep breath, holding it until their buzzing thoughts settled a little. They exhaled and opened their eyes again.

They shoved what had just happened with Kang-dae to the back of their mind and got to work, trying to find Huian.

xOx

Huian watched everyone around the table, relaxed and smiling. She saw Joyce coming over, holding two cups in her hands.

"There's a lot of people here," Joyce murmured, holding one cup out for Huian to take.

"I think it's mostly people who wanted to go out," Huian said as she took the offered cup. She didn't mind; she would have done the same.

"I guess." Joyce flicked a hand towards Huian's drink, indicating to drink, smiling. "Drink, drink! It's your leaving party. So celebrate your promotion!"

Huian sipped whatever Joyce had given her – all she could tell about it was there was alcohol in it, with some fruit.

"Don't worry about getting home tonight," Joyce said as Huian took a deeper gulp of it, "I'm driving."

If that was the case… Huian smiled at her, raising her glass for Joyce to clink. Joyce knew where she lived; she would get home fine.

* * *

><p>I talk about the time skips in Noblesse being nonsensical, but I'm also doing this for my fic. Because I know it's still needed.<p>

If people's details were entered via database form or something, the extra tab wouldn't have been seen that often.

There was supposed to be a scene where Nakida checks how Huian was doing after they met, oops.

I had the second last scene plotted out one way. This morning, I spent some two hours thinking about how the scene would go now that I am close to it. Then when I reached it, it went its own way. Of course.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Contains body horror.

Unsurprisingly, the fic's taken a darker turn. Yeah.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>It was already past working hours, so Nakida didn't have the option of trying to find Huian as she left for work. Except she didn't work regular hours, so for all Nakida knew, Huian could have been going <em>into<em> work.

Nakida had her address, and once they'd pulled it up, they found the cameras closest to her home. They squinted, trying to find the right door.

When they did – the lights were off. Shit. Huian wasn't there.

Okay, maybe she'd gone to work today. (Or she was already gone.) So Nakida backtracked through the feeds until they saw Huian leaving her house a few hours ago. They followed her as she walked down the road, getting the public transport. Nakida had to keep multiple feeds open at every stop to make sure Huian didn't get off, but she eventually got off at the stop close to the company.

She'd went to work. There was at least that.

Nakida chewed their lip in thought and then nodded. Getting her communicator number wasn't hard and they called it, switching their avatar to one of their lesser used ones, in case someone recognised their Tao one again. They got the answer message straight away. Which… She was working. Turning off her communicator wasn't strange. Or it had run out of battery. And it could have rung out anyway if it had connected if she was inside the system.

If the communicator was off, she wouldn't be able to search for its position, so the next thing Nakida got was the number of the guard office. They listened to the ringing, bouncing their leg up and down, wanting it to be picked up _now_. They had to be on time. They _had_ to be.

"Hello? Abi speaking." The person speaking had long black straight hair that wasn't bound and the way the background flickered, Nakida had to be talking with someone inside the system.

"Hi – can I talk to Huian please?" They tapped their thumb on their hip to a quicker beat to their leg.

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Dammit, no, no, don't say it! "She's been promoted so she isn't here anymore. What I can help you with?"

"Is she still in the country?"

Abi laughed and Nakida's heart leapt. Was that 'she already left' or 'she's still here'? "She's in the middle of her leaving party, so unless someone shipped her off drunk, she's still here."

_Yes_. There was still a chance! "Can you tell me where it is?"

"Don't you have her number?" But Abi was reaching around anyway, glancing away from the screen.

"I do, but it's off right now." Hopefully just off. Not destroyed.

"Oooh, okay." Abi nodded. "It's…ah, here we go." A map flicked up on the screen, a red dot flashing.

Where was that? Nakida brought up a bigger map on their communicator to compare the areas they knew.

"It's not that far from here."

Which wasn't helpful since Nakida had been in the country less than three weeks. But they were able to centre themselves and work out where the building was.

"It might be over by now though," Abi continued, looking at her in concern.

"That'll be fine." Sort of. "Thanks!" They closed the call and damn, the restaurant was closed circuit, but they could at least watch the feeds that pointed towards the entrance. The place didn't look like it had personal parking, so they wouldn't have to worry about Huian slipping in and out without them seeing.

If if if.

Now to find out when she arrived, and if she was still there.

xOx

Nakida had seen Huian enter the restaurant, but the staff said she'd gone and Nakida couldn't find when she had. The streets wasn't busy enough to lose her, not when Nakida knew what she looked like and had the console running face recognition as well. They _couldn't_ have missed her.

But they apparently had.

Huian's house was visible on a different feed and there had been no movement there.

She could have gone to a friend's house, but that didn't explain why they couldn't find her on the feeds.

They'd lost her. _Dammit_! They hadn't been able to do anything even though they'd tried to and they clenched their hands, their nails digging into their palms.

It wasn't a dead end though. They could still find something with Jocelyne.

Their stomach was rumbling, demanding to be filled, but they had another hour or so before their body drove them away from their console.

xOx

The world was spinning. And flashing. Huian wanted to throw up, the lights above her head refusing to stop moving.

…Those weren't her lights. And that wasn't her ceiling. She didn't have tiled ceilings. They weren't white either.

What…?

What was going on?

"Hm? Awake already?" The voice was familiar, but it was coming through a twisting fog, echoing between Huian's ears. "Your file _did_-"

Huian huffed, the voice fading out as she turned her head, squeezing her eyes shut. It didn't help the churning in her stomach; it was just short of one final clench making her empty it but if she concentrated, she should be able to hold it in.

"Asleep again?"

"No..." she mumbled. She was fairly sure she wasn't wearing the same clothes as she had been the last time she remembered. It was far too cold where she was - and whatever she was lying on top of, it felt like it was made of metal, all hard and freezing to touch.

...And she couldn't move her hands. Or feet.

Was she _tied down_? Huian tried again, straining against whatever it was that was wrapped around her wrist and ankles. They didn't move.

Heart starting to thud in her chest, she turned her head towards where she last heard the voice.

"Your motor skills are also coming back faster than expected. Hm. I'll have to take that into account."

She had to be dreaming. That wasn't. Was that _Joyce_?

Who smiled down at her, like there was nothing wrong with the situation. Like it was normal.

"Don't worry - you won't remember this soon enough. You'll be much more manageable then."

Joyce's attention went away from Huian's face as she struggled to get her mouth working again, tried to get her brain to think of _something_. Fingers prodded her wrist, and Huian tried to jerk them away. It didn't work.

"Your bruise is almost gone as well. And, yes," -the fingers trailed up- "that tattoo."

"What - wha-" Her tongue was thick, like it was trying to choke her.

"Nothing much." Joyce's smile went wider, tracing the outside of it. "I just find it interesting how you have one that looks like this - we used to use something similar to this to brand our other subjects."

Subjects. "_What_?" It came out strangled. Was she dreaming she was inside a sci-fi movie, trapped with a scientist who wanted a human experiment? Huan tried to struggle again, but the cuff was secured onto the bed.

"You're completely human though. Never mind." Joyce shook her head. "Just an interesting twist, giving yourself that brand before you needed it." She was unsticking the back of a patch, and Huian had the feeling it wasn't something that was supposed to help her with anything, dread a heavy rock in her stomach.

There was nothing Huian could do but watch as Joyce reached over and pressed the patch to her skin. This was it. This was going to be the start of her life trapped here (wherever 'here' was, and she could be in a completely different country – and no-one would look for her because she'd been promoted-!) Panic was prickling her insides, stealing her breath.

"Hah?" Joyce snatched her hand back, shaking it a little. "Static?" She peered at Huian's arm.

Huian's eyesight was flickering purple and black at the edges, and she wasn't blacking out, pain starting to pulse throughout her body. And rage. Rage that something was trying to change _their body_ – and that wasn't her thoughts, something dark and numerous clawing out of the back of her mind, like a system that had been trapped inside her brain and was trying to expand itself past the boundaries of her body.

Except they _felt_ like her thoughts, like they were a normal part of her.

What was _in_ that patch?

She could barely think, the thoughts drowning out her own, screaming as the pain tore down to her arm, ripping at it as it moved, focusing on something there. Some _intruder_.

This was _their_ body and they weren't going to allow any changes to it.

"That _is_ interesting..."

Huian shivered, sweat trickling across her skin as the purple and black faded from her sight, her body feeling like she'd just spent fifteen minutes running flat out. How long had that lasted? Was that going to happen every time Joyce used a patch on her?  
>"How did you do that?"<p>

"Do what?" she croaked out. And the feeling of being drunk was completely gone, replaced with pain and a shortness of breath, but she could think more clearly now, her tongue under her control again.

Joyce raised her eyebrows, looking at her in disbelief before she ducked down out of Huian's sight. "This." She waved something at Huian and...it was the patch. What was left of it. It had been shredded, like something had torn it apart. There was also the smell of burning lingering, the edges of the tears black and twisted.

"I didn't do that." Why would Joyce think that? ...Except she was strapped to a bed, so Joyce could be thinking _anything_.

Joyce frowned at the remainder of the patch and then at her. "You've been checked over before –I was _there_- and you came up as human. So-"

"Of course I did! There isn't anything else _apart_ from humans!"

She got a smile in response to that, and a pat on the shoulder. "That's what we want you to believe."

Huian's skin crawled at the contact. She was never going to be found when she died; no-one was even going to look for her or know she was missing and she was going to spend the last of her days listening to the ramblings of someone who couldn't distinguish fantasy from reality.

"Why me?" Why had Joyce chosen her? Because they'd met at her job? Because she'd accepted her lift home?

Joyce smiled. "Because you were interesting. You showed good aptitude in technology and some leadership skills."

That… Huian's stomach sank as she stared at Joyce. That was not the answer she was expecting. That sounded like Joyce had known her for a lot longer than when they'd first met. And it was true – that was why she'd been picked for that specialist training program when she was younger.

But she'd never told Joyce that; it had never come up. Joyce had never asked. So unless Joyce had done some digging of her own… Except how would she have gotten access to her files?

"That was why you'd been chosen for that program." Joyce's smile deepened. "And this was exactly what you were being trained for."

"What? _How_?" How had she been trained to be _strapped to a table_?

"Don't you remember?" Joyce peered at her. "Who suggested this job to you?"

"The...program." She'd gotten a message, suggesting and advising to go to this job. Because that's what the people thought would be good for her.

"And why do you think you got it?"

"No." She couldn't be right. "They said-"

"They said 'yes' because the higher ups told them to." Joyce's smile turned self-satisfied at Huian's gaping jaw. "Security had been told they could have another staff member, and since you were the only applicant with ties to the prestigious program, that's why you were employed. Because of the program again.

"I like keeping a close eye on those I'd hand-picked." How many people in the company were those Joyce had picked? And how much power did she have here?

There was a quick 'snikt' as Joyce started to peel off the back of another patch. No. She didn't want to go through that again. Watching Joyce was a torture in itself, knowing what was coming but being helpless to stop it or do anything about it.

And Huian swallowed as she felt the dark presence react to her fear, gathering itself to strike.

The patch was pressed to her skin and Huian was staring at her arm as Joyce pulled her hand back after only touching for a second.

There was something hissing out of her skin, tendrils thinner than her pinkie rising up like they had a mind of their own. Huian swallowed, wanting to throw up again. Except she could feel those tendrils, knew what they were feeling, what they were reaching for, how the ugly blotched skin under it was different from her own, the howling anger back in her mind.

Some of the tendrils dived down at the patch, tearing through it like it was made out of paper. Others speared at Joyce, who was a step away from where she'd been before. They didn't make it, getting too thin and swinging back to fuse back into her body.

Huian shuddered, wanting it _out_ of her, feeling like she was being suffocated from the inside, drowning in the mass of voices inside her.

"In all my years doing this, you are the most interesting person I've come across. I'll have so much fun learning from you."

She stared at her. How – how could she be so _calm_ about this?

Huian's vision flickered, Joyce's hair replayed with full red-purple hair, her eyes gold. It only lasted a second, the visage disappearing when she blinked. And now she was hallucinating. This wasn't… Fuck!

"But hmm…" Joyce hummed, looking her over. "If you don't know how you're doing this…"

"I _don't._" What kind of person sprouted _tentacles_ from their skin?

"But it could be something subconscious, and if I erased your memories-"

The dark presence _snarled_ at that threat, tightening its hold around her, curling up like a dragon defending its hoard. It was strangling her at the same time, smothering her.

"-You could lose this ability, and I the ability to access it along with it. Hm."

It would be better if she _did_ forget that she ever knew about all of this, but forgetting her memories… Could Joyce really do that? Everything so far about this situation had been unreal, but if she could grow tentacles from within her and had some sort of presence in her, then maybe Joyce could erase her memories easily as well.

"I'll need scans of you first before I decide. And blood tests. Maybe something changed since your last one-" That was last week! "-or their machinery wasn't as sensitive."

The table started moving, and the presence settled down, almost disappearing. It left behind an aching headache in its wake.

* * *

><p>Yeeeey, more info dumping! Orz;<p>

Yeah, I didn't know what to go for with Aris' hair, seeing how it changed mid-season. *snerk*


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Contains needles. Hm, pain descriptions.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Shit shit shit! M-21 scowled down at the security building. He <em>knew<em> it was a front, had followed some the whispered rumours of the people who had gotten out (and were never heard from again), but he didn't know _how_ to get in without taking walls down.

Which he could do with ease, but he could end up taking the foundation down with him at the same time and hurt innocent people around him.

It was obvious he was out the loop. He'd assumed the Union had been unchanging as he was. Or maybe he just hadn't known all of their processes of 'recruitment'. But fuck, using a tactic similar to the KSA's-!

He couldn't get back in contact with Tao either, the number private again.

"Tch." And the best person who could have helped track him down would have been Tao.

There wasn't anything he could do about that now. He had to figure out a way to get in without alerting the people in the building; the Union could kill everyone there to cover up their presence.

xOx

Huian had been taken through a number of double doors that swished open, the walls and ceiling staying as bright as ever. There were also people in lab coats walking around, and none of them gave her a second glance.

Joyce wasn't alone in doing this. This was something much bigger than Joyce acting alone.

Except it had to be anyway, because how else would Joyce have arranged for the program and working it up to the reputation it had now that anyone would take a person who had been trained there?

But Joyce looked like she was only a bit older than Huian was? Right. She'd probably gotten the position after it had been established.

Been promoted to it.

Hah.

How many people had been taken in like Huian had? How many people knew? Had everyone in the company knew apart from her?

"Doctor Flores."

Who? The voice was close though, and Huian tilted her head to try and find the source. A man in a labcoat like the others, stocky build with glasses. Whose full attention was on Joyce and not her.

"Thorough blood tests."

"Yes, ma'am."

They stopped moving and Huian looked around. They were in a large room, one machine dominating the side. It was cylindrical in shape, the insides glowing. The scanner.

Cold hands on her arm and Huian tried to jerk away out of instinct. The man's attention wasn't on her, only her arm as he tied the tourniquet to her upper arm.

"Why are you-" The man's eyes didn't flicker away from his job, finding the vein in her elbow. Like this was something he did every day. Which could be true from the glimpse Huian had seen already. Getting blood samples from unwilling and strapped down 'patients' every day.

The presence in her head snapped at him as the needle slid under her skin but its reactions were sluggish compared to the absolute surge of emotions and rage the first time.

Huian watched with morbid curiosity, unable to look away as her blood travelled up the tube and filled the container at the other end of it. It still looked red. Normal, like the last time she'd seen it. There wasn't any trace of black or purple in there from what she could see.

When he was done, the man pulled the needle out and stepped away, bowing towards Joyce. "I'll get the results back to you as soon as I can."

Joyce nodded. "Make sure you do."

With that acknowledgement, he turned on his heel and left, his shoes clicking over the tiles.

"And now to see if your scans can tell me anything else."

xOx

The scan hadn't been any different from what Huian had expected it to be. She'd never been in one before, having never needed to before.

She didn't want to go through it again.

Not when it was a high pitched whine in her ear, sometimes 'clunk'ing without warning. And the next time she had a scan, she _hoped_ shouldn't be immobilised.

There was only so much panic her body could take before exhausting itself and it had run its course inside the scanner.

And even though she'd had her fill at the restaurant, she felt hungry again, like she'd just done a lot of exercise.

Huian didn't know what time it was, but even with all that had happened (or _especially_ because what had happened) her eyelids grew heavy, even though she struggled to stay away, the dark presence an almost comforting presence in her head.

xOx

Nakida's eyes were straining, and their stomach was trying to claw itself out of their body, since they were _obviously_ not going to feed it themself.

Their lips were dry and cracked too, and they really should get up to get something to eat.

Huian's house had stayed quiet and untouched, which hadn't surprised them, but they had a dim hope that she might…

They sighed, screwing their eyes shut and rubbing the bridge of their nose.

No, they had to stop now. They couldn't concentrate.

Nakida closed all the windows around them, and they blinked at the darkness, the air wavering in front of their face as their eyes tried to adjust to the change.

They had been staring at the screens for far too long.

And what they could show for it wasn't much. Going through the records to find out more Jocelyne had been…interesting. Jocelyne had been the sole editor for the promotions list, reaching back further than Nakida's birth year.

So she was another person who was living for much longer than what a regular human could. That didn't sound familiar.

Was everyone here immortal? It was starting to seem like it. Or was it because of the company involved?

They could dwell on it later. After food.

When they swung their legs over the edge of the bed, Nakida grimaced, feeling the blood flow start reaching places it hadn't been able to get to for the last couple of hours, making those areas tingle.

They waited for a couple of seconds to get the feeling back in their legs, stretching, pushing their hands up into the air. Their back cracked in multiple places. They groaned in satisfaction at that. When they had feeling back in the rest of them, they headed for the door.

But what should they get? There was a supermarket not far from their inn, so they could nip in and out and get back so they could keep searching.

Or there was another place they could go eat, a place they needed to check out anyway.

xOx

It didn't take long to reach the restaurant, the queue non-existent by the time Nakida arrived. Travelling there had helped to clear Nakida's head a little bit, the cold air and wind waking them up. It would only be temporary, but it should be enough to make them last a little longer.

The place wasn't that busy inside either, only a few tables taken, so Nakida headed for one of the tables at the back, right in the corner. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about someone glancing over their shoulder at their screen and they would be able to look over the whole room as well.

A table picked out for themselves, they sat down, a menu materialising from the table in front of them. They glanced through the selection and tapped a few of the things they hadn't tried before. When they were done, their choices lit up, the menu faded from sight with a chime.

That done, Nakida glanced around, trying to find the sign for the toilets.

They found it and got up, moving towards it.

There was no-one in the corridor that lead to the toilets – and there were a number of doors with 'staff' signs on them as well.

The first one was filled with cleaning materials so Nakida closed that door again. The second one was more promising – it was an empty office with a split screen showing a number of viewpoints from different cameras. There wasn't a port to hook up to, no-one lying in the room with a dazed expression on their face either. In the very least, someone needing to hook up to the system or no, no-one was there and Nakida had to act fast in case the person was on a break.

A few minutes later, Nakida slid back in their chair, the new camera feed data stored in their brain. They couldn't upload it to their communicator, not when not everyone had a port connected to their spinal cord, and there was too big a risk of the cameras seeing what they could.

From their other quick look before they'd sat down, there wasn't a way to exit through the back without drawing attention. So how had Nakida gotten out without being seen?

Since they couldn't do what they usually did to keep themselves awake, Nakida took out a sheet of paper and started doodling again as they waited for their order to come through.

xOx

Nakida yawned as they re-entered their room, their toes dragging on the floor. The food had been good and filling, to the point that they'd only just been able to finish it all.

The problem had been staying awake and upright on their 'board with a full stomach and not going headfirst into a wall. There had been a few close calls, but Nakida had stayed on top of their 'board the entire time.

The world was wavering as they took their console out their bag and hooked their cable up to it. It would still take a few minutes for the upload to finish so they started doodling again as they continued standing. They knew if they lay down they would fall asleep straight away, risking pulling the console over as they moved in their sleep, or worse, damaging the port and cable that way.

This time the sleep-hazed doodle was another pair, one with wavy, medium length hair, the other with shorter straight hair. They seemed to like drawing formal clothes in this one.

Whatever. They unhooked the cable from their console when the transfer was done, drawing it back into their neck. When it was safely tucked away and covered, Nakida made sure their console wasn't too close to an edge it could fall off of.

Once that was done, they curled up on top of the blanket and fell asleep.

xOx

Huian was in a big house. A house filled with people, that had multiple floors. It wasn't one she'd ever stepped in, but it was still familiar.

The walls were covered with purple and black cracks, pulsing like veins.

They were also familiar, but it brought a heavy weight to Huian's stomach. That wasn't right. They weren't supposed to be there.

The other people in the house didn't notice and she wanted to warn them. Their names were on the tip of her tongue, like she used to know them, like she had known those faces before-

"-ll, that'll be all."

Huian gasped, trying to make sense of her swirling thoughts, trying to grasp at them as they disappeared right in front of her.

Dreaming. She'd been dreaming. It was obvious now that she was awake, but-

"You're human, but you're healing at a lower modified's rate…"

It was Joyce muttering, the document she was reading floating in front of her face.

"I _know_ I'm human," Huian said, glowering at her. She hadn't needed a freaking blood test for that.

"It's almost like a soul weapon," Joyce continued, ignoring her. "That was the closest result I could find, but you don't have any noble blood either."

Royalty? What – There was no point trying to understand what she was rambling about.

"Oh? Oh!" Joyce's face lit up and she focused on her. "Is this the Dark Spear? Are you Frankenstein's daughter? Granddaughter?"

"Neither," Huian said with a glower. "I thought you knew everything about me." And a glance would have made it obvious she didn't have a 'Frankenstein' in her family.

"Doesn't matter," Joyce said with a wave of her hand, the document disappearing. "If it's a soul weapon or not, either way I'll get the data from you. But if it _is_ a soul weapon, and I can make my own…" Huian didn't like the excited expression that was spreading across Joyce's face. "I could rise up to Elder from this!"

She had to get away from here. Escape. Somehow. Figure out a way out of the restraints (did they have keys to unlock them?).

The presence in her mind could do it.

And it perked up at her thoughts, twisting around, trying to see out her eyes.

If it could cut through the patch, would it be able to cut through metal? It was a stretch but-

'_Yessss_.'

The presence seemed to think it could. They curled up, all the voices, all the non-physical mass, ready to spring. They were made of barbs, a body filled with fangs and claws and Huian's eyesight flickered at the edges again.

"Hm?" Joyce peered down at her, watching her with curiosity.

She was close enough.

It lunged at Joyce and –

_Pain_. Like something was trying to rip its way out of Huian's body, clawing at every single fibre in her muscles as it passed.

The presence snapped back into her, unable to reach, unable to take the form it _wanted_ to be.

"Yes, your body also seemed to have some damage where the Dark Spear exited it last time – your body had already healed some of it by the time you woke up again," Joyce remarked. And then smiled. "But keep doing that; I'll be making notes."

F-fuck…

xOx

Nakida sipped from their bottle of water as they shifted through the feeds from the restaurant. They sleep they'd gotten had invigorated them, their eyes no longer straining as much as before.

They knew the time Huian entered and… There she was. Now they had to find out why they hadn't been able to spot her from the external cameras.

And hope the feeds hadn't been tampered with.

It seemed like a regular gathering, people eating and drinking, passing food around. There were also a number of empty chairs. Probably a couple of people who had to cancel at the last minute.

…Except Huian was talking to thin air? Was she that kind of drunk?

No, a cup materialised into Huian's hand, the chair beside her moving back without any help.

Nakida's stomach sank. It was too much work for someone to have removed a person from every single frame but leave everything else in tact. So it had to be someone who had the ability to not be seen by the cameras. It wouldn't look too strange at a casual glance if there were small gaps where people stood, not when the people were constantly moving.

But to have something like this…

And how were they going to find Huian now, if the other person they were trying to find was invisible? Assuming the invisible person was Jocelyne but it was too much of a coincidence.

Right. So they were on the other side of technology being used to trick and hide for once. They could work with this.

They squinted at the feed, trying to find any kind of tell, if it was perfect.

There was a small haze hovering over the chair, like it was too hot. At least they had something they could try to work with.

They watched Huian down more and more drinks before she finally leaned forward – and disappeared. Was it through touch or had she been given something to hide her?

That didn't matter right now. What mattered now was following the empty space they created.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Contains animal cruelty. Body horror

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>The front door was opened and – dammit. What used to be a view that made it easy to see who they wanted was now a view that was too easy to <em>hide<em> in.

There was still a bubble there that people avoided and Nakida tracked that as the bubble moved.

Even then, it wasn't easy and Nakida wanted to do what they normally did and fast forward, letting their console do all the work and take them straight to the answer they were trying to get. The console wouldn't be able to track the 'heat haze' though with accuracy, since it kept changing and it would probably lock onto other heat sources, and the console would lose the two when they reached an open area. Nakida would have to do this manually.

So if the two were there… Nakida tracked where they thought the two were with the curser, playing the feeds at half-speed to make sure they didn't lose them.

Except someone just stepped right where the curser was. There hadn't been anyone there. Shit.

Nakida skipped the feed back, trying to find a spot they were certain Huian and Jocelyne were in. Except they thought they had the two the first time. This was wasting too much time, but they had to be methodological or they would lose them completely.

They found a spot where someone dodged out the way of empty air and marked that in case they had to back track again. They had the feeling they would in a few minutes.

Where could they have moved next? There was a margin of space away from the road. Had the two crossed it?

Dammit, trying to follow a heat haze was almost impossible with a low definition image and people disrupting it, making it harder to see.

Which was the point but it didn't stop Nakida's frustration at what was happening. Or their determination at keeping track.

If the two had crossed the road… Nakida widened the field of cameras in their view, slowing the feeds even further. It wasn't likely they'd be able to see when the two crossed the road (if they were even crossing the road) but they could try to catch them again afterwards.

The two _probably_ wouldn't backtrack, but if they were heading for public transport or a car-

Fuck.

Nakida hadn't been thinking, too focused on what was happening in front of them. If either Huian or Jocelyne had a car, they could track its position and that would be a lot faster than trying to keep an eye out for empty space.

They paused the feeds and opened up Huian's and Jocelyne's profiles.

Huian didn't have a car, but Jocelyne did.

…That was an old model. Wasn't that one manually driven? Were those still being made now? …Or Jocelyne had bought one as they were first being made, if her age was close to being true.

And Nakida had a feeling they knew why Jocelyne hadn't upgraded her car as they entered the licence plate to the search.

Nakida waited, drumming their fingers on their thigh, watching the loading bar fill up.

[NOT FOUND]

It hadn't driven through that area recently. Apparently.

Nakida doubted that was true. Not when those cars didn't have inbuilt trackers in them like the more recent models. If Jocelyne could hide herself from cameras, hiding her car from being tracked was probably done in the same way.

…If they had to try and keep track of an invisible _car_-!

But… Nakida sighed and took another swing from their bottle, gulping it down. With an invisible car, it would be easier to see since cars had a set route to follow, especially in congested areas.

Tiny break done, they set down the bottle and started the feeds again, making the windows larger so they had more chance of seeing what was going on.

They lost the pair three more times and the time covered in the feeds had been about five minutes, but it had taken Nakida far longer than that to finally see the car that turned on by itself in a near empty street, the doors opening without help.

The car's licence plate was blank. But at least the _car_ was visible, so they should be able to follow that with a lot more ease than invisible people.

The car pulled out, looking like it didn't have any passengers and Nakida made their console track it as it moved. While the car weaved in between traffic they ate some…it was lunch now, not breakfast.

They made sure to check the licence plate every so often in case their console switched cars, but it was the same unreadable one.

Once they were sure their console could keep track of it, they opened up a map and starting marking the path the car was taking.

Away from Huian's house (obviously), not going in the direction of Jocelyne's house either…

The path she was taking was fairly direct and Nakida set a line, trying to guess the places where Jocelyne could be going.

…Wait. There was one building there that was already pretty familiar to them.

The security building was close to the line, only a short distance away from it.

Was that where Jocelyne was taking Huian? There shouldn't be anywhere to keep her, unless…

Nakida pursed their lips but stopped that thought short. It wouldn't be good to make assumptions.

They kept following the car, and it did end up turning away at the last couple of turns, moving towards the security building's car park.

Damn. Nakida leaned back in their bed and exhaled. They had something to work with now.

But how were they going to find out how to get to wherever Jocelyne was keeping Huian…? 

The stabbing sensations in Huian's skin had faded, leaving only a tingling in its wake. Joyce had gone too, and she must have lost consciousness because she was hooked up to a drip.

Her stomach was still saying she was hungry, and her body was exhausted, wanting to do nothing but lie there. Rest.

She couldn't do that. She had to find out how to get out.

And now that she was alone, she could try to talk to the presence in her head without being interrupted.

Try to, anyway. It was volatile, only wanting to lash out, but it was Huian's only chance of getting out. That she could think of at the moment. The prospective of pain wasn't one that Huian wanted – she didn't have a choice though. It was the ripping pain or staying trapped here until she was killed one way or another.

But how…? She closed her eyes, evening out her breathing. What had Joyce called it? Dark Spear?

_Yes?_

Her breath caught in her throat as the presence focused on her and she felt like she was inside a system again, except the system had a consciousness of its own and could easily swallow her into it.

So Joyce had been right. This was Dark Spear. Whatever that was.

A series of flashes and Huian caught a couple of images - she couldn't make sense of them before they disappeared again.

There was also a roll of anger, but it was muted, like being at the end of a ripple rather than at the centre.

_Can you cut through the restraints?_

Huian caught absolute certainty from Dark Spear. As well as frustration.

_Could_, was the mutter. _Not enough power_.

How could what Huian was feeling be _not enough_? If felt like it could tear through a _wall_.

Dark Spear gathered itself, like it was going to attack her. It collapsed instead, huffing. _We need _more_, Takeo._

Who-? _I'm not Takeo._ She'd have thought it would have picked that up at least; it had been inside her head all this time.

A snort that echoed. _Your soul's Takeo_.

Fuck. This wasn't working. How could she talk to it when it seemed like a bundle of barely kept together instincts? A group that was just a cohesive whole. She couldn't understand how it thought.

_How is my soul Takeo's?_ Her soul was _hers_.

Dark Spear stayed quiet, like it was pondering her question, which gave Huian some hope. Was she getting through to it?

It was also doing something that Huian couldn't make out. Oh, it was gathering itself again. Was it going to try to slice through the restraints?

_No_.

No? Then what _was_ it doing?

This _is Takeo_-

That didn't sound like something she'd actually wanted to find out and from the little she'd seen, she was also sure she didn't want to do it the way Dark Spear was about to. _Wait-!_

_-and this is why your soul is Takeo's_.

She was all too aware of a wave of something coming her way and it crashed into her, enveloping her.

Huian wasn't strapped to a table anymore; she was surrounded by memories upon memories that were filling her brain. The Union. M-21. Tao. Names that had places attached and they wouldn't stop coming. She was being smothered by all the information, yet she knew each one when she saw it.

The annoyances of having long hair. Working at Ye Ran. Nobles. Having a male body.

The memories stopped, Dark Spear packing them away again.

She was reeling from what Dark Spear had shown her, trying to make sense of it all. That didn't explain-

A door opened and Huian snapped her eyes open at the sound. Her vision swam and she blinked, trying to see clearly again.

It was Joyce walking in, holding a small cage in her hand.

_Aris_, Dark Spear hissed, and this time, Huian knew who it was talking about, who the overlaid image was and why she felt the anger at it.

"Still trying to use it, I see."

Was she getting slowly covered in purple and black like she'd been shown in those memories?

…The connection to Frankenstein made sense now, but not how _she'd_ gotten Dark Spear.

Huian's skin _was _ throbbing worse than it had been though, so Joyce was probably seeing something she couldn't.

"Though I've done a bit of reading on the notes we had," Joyce said, setting the cage down next to Huian's shoulder. Inside was a small rat sniffing at the bars.

Dark Spear took notice, all of its attention zeroed in on it. If it couldn't reach Joyce, then the rat would do-

"Wait, wait, wait!" Dark Spear couldn't be thinking of what she could hear and feel it thinking about, but Dark Spear snapped out at her arm, lunging for the rat.

She could feel it wrap itself around it, feel the fur, feel its heartbeat thundering against the tentacle. She could feel as the tendrils pierced skin, muscle and bone. It was drawing something out that wasn't physically there, greedily collecting into itself.

The rat was shrieking non-stop, its cry ringing in Huian's ears.

And then it was gone, Joyce lifting the cage out of the tendrils' reach until it couldn't keep its shape, snapping off. "It apparently has the habit of trying to eat its host."

Huian was trembling. She couldn't argue against Joyce's words. Not when she'd heard and felt the want Dark Spear had.

_We would have gotten power from that!_ It was hissed, Dark Spear retreating, wanting to save as much of itself as possible.

"But I got what I came for."

As Huian watched, Joyce walked away again. She couldn't stop staring at the black and purple mass that was curled up inside the cage. 

The sky was clear, only a few clouds obscuring the sun at intervals.

Which was good weather for Nakida to be comfortable as they made their way around the security building. There were some nice empty spots where they could sit and observe, and Nakida picked a place that had a wall they could lean against. No-one would be looking over their shoulder either.

Their spot had a clear view of the front of building, and they could see the people walking by with ease.

Trying to watch the building from their room was safer, but being there in person meant they had more chance of _seeing_ Jocelyne. It would be far easier that way. It might not give them much if they followed her, but it could give them an indication of how to get where Huian was.

They settled down on their spot and opened up their console, putting the back up so people couldn't read their windows. They kept their hacked feeds of the surrounding buildings at a relatively small size, since they weren't sure where exactly the feeds for the security company were.

Once that was done, they started searching through the crowd, trying to match the face they'd seen in Jocelyne's profile. 

M-21 crouched on top of the rooftop, watching the people move around from under him.

This was useless. _He_ was useless. He'd been able to find out where Huian had last been seen (and he had the feeling the 'other caller' Abi had talked about had been Tao) and who she'd left with, but that didn't mean Joyce was the one who'd taken her.

He hadn't called her to check, just in case it _was_ her and he tipped his hand.

…And M-21 had been watching the crowd for so long that he realised there was one person who hadn't moved from their spot for a couple of hours now.

Could that be…?

He was too high to see any distinguishing details, so he moved back to jump down to street level to get a proper look.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Contains body horror

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>A minute later, M-21 was checking out the crowd in a sweeping glance. There were a lot of people rushing towards one direction or another, talking about dinner or getting shopping or a myriad of other things. None of them were the person was trying to find.<p>

The person M-21 had seen still hadn't moved but…that couldn't be right.

M-21 watched from the corner of his eyes, double-checking. She was opposite from Tao in pretty much every way with dark skin, long curly purple hair. She was wearing more pastel colours, not the dark ones Tao tended to prefer. M-21 could pick out the start of wrinkles around her eyes; she was older than he'd been able to see Tao. And she had breasts. She couldn't be Tao. He had to be mistaken.

Except as he watched, the woman tapped her foot in a semi-circle in a way that was painfully familiar to M-21, even though it had been so long. Tao had told him it had been a habit from using his foot mouse – and something he'd tried to unlearn without success when he'd heard the superstition that he'd lose money if he kept doing that. And Tao hadn't been able to keep his money, not when he'd bought things on impulse, or saved just to splash out on gifts for the rest of the household.

She also twirled the stylus between her fingers as she thought. The fact she had a screen up in front of her face added to M-21's growing suspicions.

But they were small things. By themselves they didn't mean anything, and even together, the link was flimsy.

It didn't stop M-21 from wondering, from trying to pick out more clues.

He was desperate, wanting to see something that wasn't there, but what if-?

It wasn't someone trying to convince him they were Tao. It was someone who acted like him without thought.

And the swirling, repetitive thoughts were back.

Most of the reasons he could think of no longer worked. One of the last few was reincarnation, which would explain what he was seeing.

If it did happen with humans. If he believed it could happened.

He did. He wanted it to be true. Throughout the entire time after Takeo and Tao's deaths, there hadn't been anyone else who he'd seen that had given him anything close to this sense of familiarity.

And…

Tao's reincarnation was watching everyone in the courtyard in front of the building through her hair. She would glance up without moving her head, take everyone in and then glance down again at her screen. She was looking for someone. Had to be, or else she should have noticed him standing there already.

Was she also looking for Joyce? But he'd told her-! M-21 pursed his lips, calming down his thoughts. He didn't know if she was who he thought he was, and he couldn't check what was on her screen, not when there was a wall directly behind her. Which was probably the point.

He had to talk to her. If he was wrong, then it didn't matter; but if he was been _right_ and he'd let his doubts ruin his chance of meeting Tao again…

M-21 looked across the courtyard again, in case anyone was watching him or the woman. No-one, as far as M-21 could see, but that didn't mean there weren't people in the adjacent buildings watching, or the ubiquitous cameras.

The woman still hadn't noticed him, and he hooked his thumbs into his pockets, taking a wandering route towards her, pausing to gaze through shop windows first before crossing the street.

He stopped close to her and he saw her shoulders tense. "Hey," he said.

She tilted her head to look up at him; M-21 was close enough to see her irises shrink at the sight of him, hear her sharp intake of breath before she controlled her expression again.

She'd recognised him. She knew who she was.

"Yes?" she said, her face taking on a more curious expression.

There were a number of different ways he could approach this, but a lot of them would have left her the option to deny what he was talking about.

"Tao-" he murmured, leaning in so others wouldn't hear him or read his lips, and her eyes flickered, her lips tensing for a second, "-you shouldn't be here." Saying 'I told you to stay away' would have sounded threatening out of context. …Even in context it did.

"Heh, sorry," she said, her lips twisting up into an apologetic smile, and dammit, it was like an overlay, "you've got the wrong person. I'm not who you think I am."

"I'm pretty sure," he said. This was confirming it for him. "You're here, watching everyone. Waiting for Joyce."

"Uh, no," she said. "I'm an artist." She turned her console around so M-21 could see the screen. It was filled with doodles upon doodles of people in a variety of different clothing and poses. Some had splashes of colour, others were only a mass of lines that gave a hint of a body. "See?" There were also a couple of sketches of buildings and non-living objects and reference pictures in the corners.

They weren't something that had been pulled out in reserve, not when M-21 recognised a couple of the buildings from this angle, and one or two of the people, their clothes striking compared the other people.

…Shit. He'd been wrong after all.

M-21 took a step back, flushing. "A-ah, sorry about that," he said, giving her a small bow. "I'll leave you alone."

He'd been so sure-!

Squashing his disappointment, he turned on his heel and left her alone.

xOx

Nakida stared at Kang-dae's retreating back, her heart hammering and not intending to slow down any time soon. How…? How had he known they were Tao? They'd been suspected of other things, but never that.

That was exactly why they'd created Tao to look the way it did, to throw people off them since they would be looking for someone different.

So how had he picked them out of the crowd after only talking with them three times? What had given them away? There had been people who been searching for them for years and hadn't come close. He had to be a lot better than he let on. Or it had something to do with his abilities.

They turned their head back their doodles so not to be too obvious. But damn, it was good he'd approached them hours after they'd sat down. They were used to sitting around and waiting while their console finished searching for something or decrypting something they needed; they tended to fill that time with drawing and this time hadn't been much different.

Drawing the people around them gave them an excuse to look at everyone and if someone was suspicious, they had proof they were doing something innocent. They hadn't managed to see Joyce yet in the time they'd been there, but her car still seemed to be in the car park so she was still in the building.

They tried to find Kang-dae, but he had already disappeared again. So long as he believed they weren't Tao, that was what mattered. It had seemed like they'd thrown him off, so now they were free to concentrate on trying to find Joyce.

xOx

_No_, Huian thought as she gritted her teeth.

_Why not?_ Dark Spear demanded. _We need more power! You saw that!_ A rustle like a multitude of moving claws. _If you give us your soul we can-_

_I said _no. Huian had seen and _felt_ what Dark Spear had been doing to that rat. She wasn't going to be eaten like that if she could help it.

_It wouldn't like that_, Dark Spear said, voice soothing. _You'd be part of us, you would have the strength to-_

_It would be _exactly_ like that!_ Dark Spear had only been interested in gathering power, intent on ripping the rat apart to get what it wanted.

_We thought you wanted to get out of here_.

She did. Dammit, she did. Huian had been tied to the table for far too long already.

_Give us your soul and we'll get you out_.

_Except it won't be 'me' anymore._

_You would be part of us. You would still get out of here._

No, she wanted to be _herself_ when she got out.

_Then you'll stay here until they kill you, or change you so much you aren't yourself anymore._ There was a weight there, tempered with knowledge. Like it had been in a similar situation. Or had known someone who had been in a similar situation.

Takeo.

Had Takeo been - he had. Takeo's memories came to her in a trickle rather than a flood, easier to manage and understand, not trying to overwhelm her.

He'd been in an exact situation like hers, except he didn't remember who he'd been before, and even Dark Spear's digging while bored or allowed out hadn't been able to find out anything.

_See? That's why you should give me your soul._

Dark Spear was more persistent than _Tao_, dogging for the answer it wanted, trying to wear her down.

She was distracted from retorting at the hiss of the door opening. When she opened her eyes, shaking her head, it wasn't Joyce walking in, but the guy who'd taken her blood before. There was a filled packet in his hand like the one that was plugged into her arm.

Dark Spear was watching out her eyes, taking an interest in how close he was getting. Calculating.

_Wait-_

_It's us or them,_ it said bluntly. _Would you rather be hurt, or hurt them?_

The answer was simple when put that way, but it wasn't sitting well with Huian's stomach.

_Hah. They don't feel the same way about you._

"Tch," the guy grumbled, changing the packet. "All the food'll be gone by the time I get there."

_See?_

Huian had been trained how to take people down to protect - and she'd been trained just for this, hadn't Joyce said.

And Dark Spear was already taking that as agreement, coiling up as it sped to the arm closest to the man.

She was going to allow it to kill him, or consume him, whatever, but they'd already kidnapped her and had treated as a lab rat (but not quite like how Joyce had treated the real one).

Fire was burning her arm as Dark Spear travelled. "Gggk!"

The man glanced down at her gasp. "This is _good_ for you," he said with disinterest, dropping . "You'll be - what?"

She'd distracted him enough that he hadn't seen her skin purple and lash out at him.

He tried to jerk away, but he was too slow and more tendrils snapped out, holding him in place.

Dragging him closer.

Dark Spear was more interested in securing a hold on the man than trying to eat him and then tendrils whipped up his arm, hooks piercing his skin. Blood flowed to be absorbed by the tendrils without a trace and with each drop, Dark Spear got more energised, more tendrils snapping up, reaching towards his torso and neck.

"Fffu-!" He was working himself up for a scream, except the tendrils had already reached his head closing his mouth and Huian shivered as she felt Dark Spear pulse. She could hear the man's muffled breath, the scream trapped in his throat as Dark Spear dug in deep, knowing exactly where it wanted to go and going there with precision.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Contains body horror

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Until the scream turned into a wheezing choke, a gargle.<p>

The energy Dark Spear was going towards still beat strong, not flickering as the man's body died around it. Dark Spear was taking the body in chunk by chunk and Huian's hunger faded, like she'd been fed, the persistent lightheadedness at the back of her eyes disappearing as well. Because of what Dark Spear was doing?

Was her body being helped because Dark Spear was eating the man?

She was connected to Dark Spear; where else was what it was taking into itself supposed to go?

Dark Spear reached its destination, looped itself around over and over until there wasn't anything uncovered. It squeezed, absorbing it.

_Memories_.

They slammed into Huian, worse than when Dark Spear showed her Takeo's. This was a flood with no filter, crushing her on all sides, filling her with panic. The man's panic.

She was seeing Min-chul's last moments. Feeling what he did as Dark Spear latched onto him and ate him alive.

As well as his entire life. Why he'd done things, his opinions, everything. It was tearing at her, screaming at her to watch. This was him, this was his memories and since she could see it, that meant she should be the same-

And then he was gone, whisked away into Dark Spear.

...Into the growing non-physical mass of Dark Spear.

It stretched, satisfied at its meal, filling more space than last time.

_All those people..._ She was sweating, her arm feeling like she was the one who had been stabbed over and over.

_Are people we've eaten_, Dark Spear finished without remorse. _They became part of our power._

That's what she would become if she'd agreed. Or let it eat her.

_Yes._ An impression of many sharp teeth spread wide. _You would have all this power, and more. The more we eat, the more powerful we become._

_No_.

_Fine._ Dark Spear was stretching down her body again, coiling down her arms. It was fire in her veins, and it didn't matter with her left, her arm already throbbing from absorbing the man, but her right-

Scree-snickt! Clang!

Huian sucked in a breath at finding her wrists free, and her fists thumped back onto the table, not expecting to move them.

_We're not staying here,_ Dark Spear growled.

No, they weren't. Huian pushed herself up into a sitting position.

Or she tried to, her arms not listening to her, trembling from exertion. She could feel her arms healing the damage but that didn't stop her crashing back onto the table, slamming her head back. The world brightened for a couple of seconds as she tried to keep blinking to clear her vision.

They didn't have a lot of time for her to recover, so she tried again, this time going slower, easing herself up onto her elbows first and then her hands. It worked, the world still spinning as she tried to look at her legs. The restraints that had been around her wrists were in pieces, looking like someone had cut them to pieces with a flurry of blows.

She was still seeing flickers of Min-chul's memories as she looked at things, what he'd been doing with objects, certain memories attached to them and she shook her head, trying to get rid of them.

It didn't help, the memories prodding at her, but she reached forward to the cuffs on her ankles.

The metal wasn't as cold as she'd expected, warmed by her skin under it.

How was she supposed to-?

Takeo's memories were there, showing her how to draw out the Dark Spear to her hand, how to manage some of the pain.

She braced herself for the pain, her hand shaking as Dark Spear answered her call, snaking to her fingertips, spiderwebbing over the restraint. She had to control it, not let it run wild. Huian pictured the tentacles like a knife (a spear) and it became that, one sharp edge that sliced through the metal like air.

She did the same with the other restrained and pulled her legs away from them.

The restraints crashed to the ground.

Dammit-! She should have thought about that.

Someone might have already been wanting to investigate that; she had to hurry.

Huian swung her legs over the edge of the table, then winced as her blood started rushing around again, jabbing at where it passed.

No time.

She pushed herself off the table, using it as a support while her legs got used to being used again. With each breath, her head cleared that little bit more. While her circulation got moving again, Huian eased the needle in her arm.

And. How was she going to get out? She didn't know-

Min-chul did.

A relieved breath exploded from her mouth, her shoulders sagging. She knew the way out.

Now if she could follow that path without bumping into anyone...

_It would be good if we did,_ Dark Spear said as Huian started to walk towards the doors.

_Why._ She didn't want to talk to him; she wanted to concentrate on getting out, but she couldn't stop her question coming out. The throbbing headache was back, far too many memories crowding her head, and Huian was starting to feel like her sense of self was getting picked apart at the edges as the memories tried to integrate themselves to her.

_Then we'll be able to consume more. Get more power_.

Shit.

_No_. She was not dealing with more memories in her head.

_We'll take them in, like just now_.

It hadn't been fast enough.

The door hissed opened, revealing an empty corridor. Left and right looked the same but Min-chul's memories told her to go right.

_See? The memories are useful._

Huian couldn't deny that as she made her way down the corridor, too aware of how much noise she was making, each drag of breath, every single footstep. She wanted to jog, to move faster, but her body was rebelling, wanting to take things at a slower pace or else she'd collapse.

_You're not getting my soul._ Why it hadn't tried to eat her yet, she didn't know, not after it had gone straight for Min-chul and the rat without trying to convince first. There was no point wasting time trying to think of explanations when she only had enough energy to stand up and walk.

_Not yet_. It was muttered, the threat in an undertone.

After this, Huian would be _glad_ if she could find a way to remove or block Dark Spear.

A chuckle, the sound of it echoing in Huian's head. _Do you think it will be that easy?_

_Yes_. Dark Spear had been blocked off before, so there could be a way to do it again.

_Naïve,_ Dark Spear scoffed, _We can't be held back once we've been awakened. _

She would see about that. Huian just wanted to be alone in her head again.

"Wha-? Hey!"

She'd been so immersed in arguing with Dark Spear she had almost walked right into someone. Someone with brown hair. And a lab coat.

"Wait, are you supposed to-?" The woman's eyes widened and she started to back away, glancing in different directions.

Shit. If she alerted the guards-! Huian lunged at her just as the woman turned to flee.

They crashed to the ground together and Huian was conscious of glee that wasn't her own right before Dark Spear pounced.

This time, because more of her was closer (to their prey) Dark Spear had more places to grab straight away. Consuming her was faster and so was the wave of memories that came with it.

Huian's head pounded, trying to crack her skull open as more information shoved itself into an already small space. She wanted to help it, to rip her skull open if that would give her relief.

She needed for it to _stop_.

It didn't, the information continuing to slam into her. Ga-young's family (mother and two brothers), her job (to take care of the modified humans in tanks), what she had for dinner (saengchae with bibimbap and some of Ji-ae's dessert).

Memories all about Ga-young's life, crowding her, trying to make _Huian_ their new home.

She tried to get away but Ga-young's memories followed her. There were no walls here; trying to cover her 'eyes' or 'ears' did nothing to block them out and she couldn't stop seeing them.

Huian was being crushed under it all and she curled up into a ball , trying to protect as much of herself as possible so she wasn't picked apart. If the other memories were overwhelming her then maybe if she tried to bolster her own sense of self with her own memories, that could be her protection against it.

Or she was presenting herself to be ripped to shreds against the onslaught, but at least she was doing something than allowing it to happen.

Memories. Memories. She was an only child, who'd grown up with two parents. She'd been working at Ye Ran for about a year as a security guard (she wasn't going back if she could help it). She liked going on jogs to clear her mind if the weather was good.

The pressure was gone, Dark Spear taking the memories and soul into itself.

Huian's vision cleared and she was curled up on the floor, sweating and trembling, feeling both energised and aching, her muscles locked up. She wanted to be sick but there was nothing to empty.

The silence in her head was deafening, like there was too much space there after being squeezed right to the bone. Dark Spear was still there, sated, lounging and happy at being filled.

Nice that _one_ of them felt good.

_You will soon_.

_How many times do I-_ Fuck it, she gave up trying to communicate with it.

Ga-young's memories had been filled of dinner, people finishing up. If she didn't hurry, she would be seeing a lot more people.

Fierce pleasure. _Let them come. We'll eat them all too._ And then they would have even more power.

Huian ignored it, lumbering to her feet and following the way to the exit. Balancing was...hard to say the least, and she used the wall for the times she tilted in one direction too much.

One step after another, she could do this. She didn't know what she would do once she was outside, but she would be outside. Away from this fucking place, where it was - underneath her work, were those fucking memories - _shit_! She was _never_ coming back!

Set the place on fire as she left. That's what she should do. This had been going on right under her feet and she hadn't known. Fuck. She'd been watching those feeds for months and _this_ is what she'd been protecting?

Her anger fueled her, making her move as she gritted her teeth, determined to get out of there.

The way the lab was made, Huian could hear voices approaching from behind her and fuck, she was going to get caught.

_Turn back. We can-_

_Shut. Up_.

_It would be much easier to-_

_I said shut up._

So many teeth bared in her direction. Mocking her. _Fine. We'll be fed soon._

It would if she didn't get her ass moving.

The voices were getting closer, the footsteps sounding like they were right behind her and Huian put an extra burst of speed on, trying to ignore how hard her heart was hammering, how much her muscles were trembling under the exertion.

She could rest once she'd escaped.

And there was the exit. Hope made her faster, no longer trying to put one foot in front of the other. The distance between her and exit got smaller and smaller and there was a passcode needed to open the door, but Huian knew it, the knowledge coming to her without her even trying. Dark Spear's smug amusement in the back of her head was ignored.

She fumbled with the pad for a few seconds, having to repeat the code a few times as she leaned on the door for support but she got it, and her breath exploded from her throat as she felt the door click under her.

Huian almost fell over as she shoved the door open, feeling the burst of _fresh air_ sweep over her, making goosebumps raise, but she didn't care she was fucking -

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the three sharply dressed people standing on the other side of the door, waiting for her.

They were all wearing sunglasses, not that they needed it, not when the sky was dark above their heads, street lights already on.

And Huian knew who they were, why they were there. She didn't know their names, Min-chul's and Ga-young's memories blank here, but they had known the important details.

They weren't carrying any weapons; they didn't need them.

The people standing in front of her were modified humans.

She wasn't getting away.

"F-fuck…" Huian sank against the door frame, the strength in her legs gone. She had been so _close_; she was right there, right on the edge of freedom!

"Ms. Cheung," the closest one to her said, approaching her. Sunglasses, male, bald head and the same height as her. "Turn back around."

She was too spent to try anything, not when she would only have the chance to take one out if she was lucky (she wasn't fast enough; she was just a regular human). By the time she regained her senses, the other two would have dragged her in again.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and hadn't he been told not to touch her?

Huian's sight flickered with the familiar purple and black as Dark Spear snapped at the hand.

And then the hand was gone from her sight.

Too slow, dammit.

"_Inside_," he demanded, two steps away from where Huian had seen him a second go.

They were going have to carry her. Her strength was spent as she slid down the door frame, gravity stronger than her legs.

A shadow passed overhead but Huian only blinked at it, unable to move.

There was a crash in front of her followed by a cut off yell.

When Huian's eyes focused, her sight tilting to the side, there was a flurry of shorn fabric whipping about in the air. Behind it was someone with silver hair fighting with the modified humans.

…She knew that hair. Those claws. The placement of fur stripes.

She let out a sigh of relief, a smile spreading over her face. "21…" she murmured.

Her comrade.

* * *

><p>Finally caught up! :D Updates will now be once a day.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>M-21 couldn't have heard that right. He sidestepped a swipe and kicked out at the guard, sending her crashing into the wall.<p>

But he had heard the words clear as if the woman had said it right by his ear. 21. The woman said his _codename_. It wasn't something he'd heard outside a handful of people, and not something from a complete stranger.

And wasn't that familiar after meeting someone who had reminded him far too much of Tao?

Was it the same thing as with Tao? If she was exiting a Union lab though... But the guards hadn't wanted her to leave, trying to stop her escape. That was what had grabbed M-21's attention, a group of people crowding around a person dressed in plain clothes, making her back away.

The guy closest to her whirled around, dashing forward and M-21 knocked him back as well, sending him flying.

Shit, either he was stronger than he thought or the Union's modified humans were worse than before.

But they were taken care of and he hurried to the woman's side.

Straight black hair, features that he'd been looking at a few times in the last couple of hours, trying to figure out how to find her.

M-21's stomach plummeted when he saw a spiderweb network over her skin, pulsing purple and black.

It couldn't be.

And he was saying that far too fucking much lately.

But it was something else familiar to him, something else he hadn't seen in a while; Frankenstein hadn't needed to use it for a while, not when the Union wasn't as strong as before. And they'd made sure of that.

How the hell was Dark Spear in someone else? Frankenstein hadn't passed it onto anyone else apart from Takeo and Tao.

Had the Union figured out how to make its own Dark Spear? Shit.

He knelt down next to her and checked her over, placing fingers on her neck. Her heartbeat was erratic and her breathing was a little shallow, but she seemed fine apart from that. Her eyes were nearly completely black and purple, the sclera barely visible.

"Mmn..." Her eyes flickered and M-21 was relatively sure she was looking at him with the way her head tilted. She smiled at the sight of him.

Her eyes then went wide and she tried to jerk back, her breathing sharpening. "Wait, it'll-!" She trailed off, the space between her eyebrows creasing. "Eat you...?"

Dark Spear? M-21 glanced down at his hand and saw tendrils curled around them. They didn't seem intent on doing anything else, just holding him.

That was different from the Dark Spear he knew. And from a glance, it seemed a lot weaker too.

He eased his hand away and the tendrils let go of him without any resistance, sinking back into her skin. The rest of Dark Spear faded from view, leaving reddened but otherwise unblemished skin. It had probably been too weak to eat him.

M-21's communicator beeped and before he did anything, it was opening up, Tao's face hovering in front of his own.

[You need to get out of there.]

The avatar didn't make any gestures and it took a second for M-21 to realise his mouth wasn't moving either. It might have been a text-based message, made to be listened to. It was a relief to know Tao was there, even if he'd been wrong about the person he'd approached earlier.

"Tao-" M-21 started, glancing at the wide open door. It was the entrance was right in front of him. He could go in and destroy the lab.

It involved stepping over Huian's body.

He would be leaving her vulnerable for anything to happen.

It wasn't something he would allow if he could help it.

[Look, the hospital's only-]

"No," M-21 said, ignoring the rest of the message. "We can't take her there." If this was the Tao he'd known, he would know why. And M-21 really had to stop comparing the two, but he couldn't help it.

[She needs help.]

"I know," M-21 said, picking her up into his arms. "They won't know what to do." Dark Spear could end up eating people instead, making it worse, if he had to guess from Huian's reaction.

_He_ didn't know what to do either, but he could contact someone who did.

"The Union might be controlling the hospital anyway. It's not safe."

[Shit. Where to then?]

"The B&B I'm staying at," M-21 said, his lips pursed. They could figure somethi-

[Nah.]

Nah?

[Your place needs a name to sign in.]

He shouldn't be at all surprised Tao knew where he was staying right now when he'd found out the civilian name he was using right now too. If he'd found one, it was easy to find out the other.

[Mine won't ask why we're dragging in a person, or for names.]

So he was going to finally meet Tao after all these half-run-ins.

"All right." M-21 nodded. "Where are you?"

[A block away from you, by the Starbucks.]

That wasn't so helpful, not when that company had spread to be on nearly every single corner. But if he was right about where Tao was...

"There's an alley next to it; go there and I'll pick you up."

[You can't use transport!]

There had to have been a minimum of five exclamation points at the end of that for the voice to tilt up that high, the avatar still not changing expression.

"I won't be." M-21 adjusted his grip on Huian, making sure she was secure. "I'll be there soon."

He closed the call and leaped to the rooftops.

xOx

What the hell... Nakida glanced up and down the alley, frowning. They were on their 'board in case they had to get away, tilting back and forth to do something with their restless energy.

Staying this close after seeing something like that... Shit.

They hadn't seen how it had started, only seeing Kang-dae in the middle of a fight, his shirt gone for no reason that Nakida could see. Apart from the claws and fur that were in places that shouldn't be on a normal human. But they'd already known he wasn't.

They scrubbed their face, sighing. They'd jumped in to warn him without thinking, because he'd needed it, because getting Huian to safety was more important than their desire to work alone. Lives were on the line.

But how was Kang-dae going to pick them up? Moving as a group was more conspicuous than separate - the problem was how were they going to get an unconscious, or at least a weakened, body across the city without drawing attention?

There was a clatter of stones beside Nakida, and they glanced at it, frowning. There wasn't anything there to move them so... That was a growing shadow where the stones were.

They jerked their head up and what the fucking hell, there was someone _dropping from the sky_.

They shoved themselves up against the wall as the body landed.

Person landed. On two feet. Like he'd stepped off a stair, his legs barely bending to absorb the impact. Cybertronic implants? But then the weight alone should have made a mini-crater in the ground.

The lack of shirt made it obvious who it was, as did the silver hair. Kang-dae turned around and glanced over them, studying them. "So I was right..."

"Yeah," they said with a shrug. They'd get their answer of _how_ later.

He shook his head. "No time."

So they agreed on that. Good.

Kang-dae jerked his head up at the roof. "She's up there." She'd better be. "Climb on," he said, turning his back to them.

...Really. They were taking to the rooftops.

Nakida tilted their head up at the distance far above. That _would_ be the best way to get around without being seen - there were cameras on buildings watching the streets, but having cameras watch the sky was a waste of data.

Damn, it really was the best option from what they had.

They nodded and minimised their 'board, sliding it into their bag. Once they shouldered it, they climbed onto Kang-dae's back, putting their arms around his shoulders.

They peered at his shoulder, but there wasn't any sign that there had been, what, fur? there a few minutes before.

"Tighter than that," he said, pushing their arms closer to his neck.

"...All right," they said. If he was sure... Which he had to be; for all they knew, he did this kind of rescue once a month. They tightened their arms, resting their head on their arm.

"Okay," he said, and his hair tickled their cheek as he looked around. With his hands under their knees he jumped and-

"Fucking-asshole-shit_fuck!_" All their insides got yanked out through their fucking _shoes_ and they'd been on roller-coasters before, years ago; they'd had the wind whipping through their hair, but they'd been _strapped in_ at the time, safe! Here, they had their own arms and one extra pair stopping them from plummeting to their death and Nakida had a very clear of how far the ground was getting, how big the drop would be if either of them let go.

It took a couple of seconds (and if Kang-dae could drop down, they bet he could jump _up_ that fucking height, but he was bouncing off the walls instead, using them as springboards to reach a higher height. How the fuck he didn't slide back down, Nakida didn't know, and they _really_ didn't want to think about that _while they were doing it_) to reach the roof and he touched down as lightly as he had when he'd jumped down.

They let go as soon as possible, loving the firm ground under their feet.

Huian was where Kang-dae had said, laid out on the rooftop, away from the edge in case she rolled over. Their skin prickled at the sight of her, and they rubbed their arm, trying to warm themselves up.

But it was strange. Nakida peered at Huian; they were sure they'd seen bruises in the feed, but it must have been a trick of the shadows. She was looking pale under the moonlight and if she had collapsed after one day there, what had been done to her...?

...Wait. Something wasn't measuring up. "How are we getting to my inn?" they asked, looking back at Kang-dae. Going by the rooftops they had understood, but Kang-dae wouldn't be able to carry _both_ of them at the same time.

Or he could; it was hard to wrap their head around how strong Kang-dae could be when they could only think about what a non-modified human could do.

"I can carry you on my back and Huian in my arms."

Nakida twisted their lips at that. They had thought he would say that.

"I can do it," Kang-dae said, one eyebrow quirking up.

"I know you can," Nakida said, taking off their bag and opening it. "But I don't think _I_ can." It had been terrifying to rely on their own physical strength without a safety net, and with how Kang-dae would hold Huian, he wouldn't be able to keep a hold on them at the same time.

And they were still cautious about strangling him even if he said it was fine.

They pulled out their 'board and dropped it, letting it maximise itself to its full size as Nakida closed their bag again. "I've got more trust in moving on this than the strength of my arms and legs." They _knew_ how to move on the 'board - their strength wasn't as reliable, and they had been far too aware of the chance of slipping. That was how they'd been like for one jump - their inn was under ten ri from where they were; they wouldn't be able to hold on for that long.

Once they'd closed their bag and put it back on, they started to take off a glove, shoving it in a pocket.

Kang-dae opened his mouth and then closed it at their words, his gaze flicking away. He wasn't used to thinking of how strong non-modified humans were compared to him?

He closed his eyes and then eyed their 'board for a second. "You can't keep up on that."

"I know." Their 'board had no chance against someone who was so fast he could disappear for frames at a time. They exhaled, flexing a hand as they extended the cable in their wrist, drawing more and more of it out until it was several times longer than they were tall. That should be enough.

Kang-dae was staring at their cable like it would rear up and bite him, and they _could_ make it do that, but they bent over to scoop it up into their arms instead, walking over to him. It was rare when anyone saw or figured out where Nakida's cables came from - the look of disgust was standard, even if Kang-dae hid it better. Now to see if he'd be willing to hold it.

And Kang-dae was already holding his hand out. ...Huh.

Nakida studied his face as he took the cable end from their hand; his touch was light, not trying to touch as little of it as possible but trying to keep the pressure off. They hadn't seen him with other objects but maybe this was normal for him, since he was so strong.

He wound the cable around his palm, crisscrossing it over his wrist as well. When he was done, he gave it a testing tug and then looked at them.

"Too tight?"

Nakida's eyebrows shot up at the question. ...How had... If a person knew about the cable implants, most thought they were just that: cables. It wasn't as well known that they were connected to the person's nervous system, and that was what the people with implants wanted - it was an ace up the sleeve when they were cornered and the people doing the cornering thought the cable only moved like a whip. Being able to charge it with power was for extra security.

And because the cables were connected to the person's nervous system, the cables were also sensitive to pressure. The cables didn't experience pain, but it was unsettling when the cables got knotted up enough to block off signals. Nakida had had them long enough it was like losing awareness of their hand when that happened.

They had to find out who 'Tao' was to Kang-dae and how he seemed to know so much about them without ever meeting before.

"No, that's pretty perfect," they said, their voice fainter than they expected. There was little chance their cable would be dislodged from his hand the way he'd done it.

They stepped up onto their 'board, removing their other glove, making the cable there slither over their shoes and 'board.

Kang-dae watched them for a second and then nodded, going to Huian's side. He picked her up in his arms, her head cradled against his shoulder. While he did that, Nakida secured their legs to their 'board; tying themselves to Kang-dae would be useless if they couldn't stay on their 'board at the same time.

"Can you tell me where your inn is from the rooftops?" he asked, turning back to them.

Nakida huffed, opening up their communicator. "Yeah." It would be harder from the lack of landmarks they were used to going by, but they would be able to do it.

They span their legs in quarter circles, making sure they could still control their 'board as well as they normally could. It moved like usual and they took in a deep breath, holding it and then exhaling, trying to relax.

They were about to hoverboard over buildings. There weren't many clouds in the sky, letting the moon show just how high some of the skyscrapers were around them, almost untouched by the lights of the buildings below.

Damn. They swallowed, trying to control their heartbeat, which had kicked up a notch again now that they weren't distracted by the idea of it and now had to _do_ it.

Controlling their cables to make them do what they wanted with precision was easy; controlling their heartbeat in the same way, not so much.

"Are you all right?" Kang-dae asked, his voice soft as he watched them, his hand with the cable tightening for a second.

They pursed their lips, taking another deep breath. The Union could be getting closer with all the time they were wasting.

Right. Nakida squared their shoulders and rippled the cable Kang-dae was holding, making sure they had full control over it. They did and then they started to use their cable to pull them left and right over the rooftop. The movement was easy and smooth, something they could do by kicking off with a leg by themselves and had done over the years they'd used hoverboards. They had to keep their weight more to the back to make sure the nose of their 'board didn't dip enough to hit the rooftop, but once they'd gotten used to it, they moved their cable in widening arcs, snapping a change in direction until their 'board lifted off its usual horizontal from the force.

They braked to a stop and nodded at Kang-dae. "Yeah, I am now," they said with a fierce satisfied smile. They were as ready as they could be in the time they had; they would ache by the time they got to their inn, looking at the obstacle course they were about to do, but they felt far safer doing it this way than on Kang-dae's back. It meant they would have to see the ground rushing towards them to calculate their landings, but they were more in control.

Kang-dae returned their smile, his hand tightening on their cable again.

Now to do this.

* * *

><p>Wiki tells me a Korean ri is about 392.72 meters, so Nakida's inn is about 2 miles3km from where they are.

So the reason why I gave Nakida a hoverboard? Because I wanted the rooftop-hopping scene with it. 8D


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Nakida used that opportunity for last minute adjustments. They gave the cable securing their legs more slack, freeing up that arm so they could hold their cable with two hands.<p>

"Ready?"

They exhaled, bending their legs. "As I can be."

Kang-dae studied them and nodded, tugging the cable. They jerked forward more than they expected but they stayed upright, keeping the nose of their 'board in the air as they changed the direction of the cable to slow them down and give them more control. They adjusted the placement of their weight, fusing what they'd learned.

He did it again with a stronger tug and they still stayed upright, pulling harder against the cable.

"Yeah, I think I've got it now." They'd better.

"All right." Kang-dae glanced out at the skyline. "What direction is your in?"

Right. Nakida swung back to keep the cable taut as they looked at the map in front of them, matching it up with their mental map. "North-west," they said, pointing the way they needed to go.

A skyscraper towered far about their heads in front of their hand.

...Fuck. They tilted their head up at it, seeing all the floors they would have to go up, all the floors they would have to go _down_ on the other side.

Kang-dae took one look at it and then turned his head west. And there were smaller buildings on that side, Nakida saw with relief, getting a little less tense. "We're going around it."

Good. That - damn, that was a _much_ better option to Nakida than literally going 'as the crow flies'.

"So let's go," Nakida said, swinging back and forth on their 'board, wanting to _move_ now that they'd spent all this time preparing themselves. They would find out how they dealt with the plunge when it happened - if they couldn't, then they would have to get carried there (so long as they didn't splat against any buildings, but even then, they should still be able to be carried).

Kang-dae paused for a second and then nodded again, taking a jogging start. And it was definitely a jogging start since Nakida could see him and their arms weren't getting ripped out of their sockets. They kept their weight to the back of their 'board, their arms straight as they saw him near the edge of the rooftop.

When he reached the edge, Nakida saw they'd been right about him, because he fucking _leaped_ across and up to the rooftop of the adjacent building. They hadn't needed to worry about jumping over the edge of the rooftop, not when they were already in the air before it and fuck fuck _fuck_! The solid ground disappeared from under them and they could see the the bustling street life far below them, only small pinpricks of light as the wind whipped through their hair.

It only lasted a second and they had to concentrate on where their legs were going, yanking the cable up to swing their lower body so they were heading feet first into the building.

They braced their legs against the impact of when they hit the building and their 'board was good enough that even with the speed they were moving at and their weight being on their back foot, the tail didn't scrape against it. There wasn't any time to celebrate their success; Kang-dae was still moving, his hand tight on their cable.

He jerked on the cable and they were whizzing up into the air, the air snatched from their mouth as they breathed and then they weren't 'boarding up the building anymore, but completely in the air, freefalling back down.

Kang-dae was standing in the middle of the roof, watching them as they fell, and they flicked their arms up, using their cable to slow their descent by turning into a swing.

They landed with no problems, moving in an arc so they didn't careen straight over the edge again.

"Keep going," they said, breathless, their heart hammering. The faster they got there, the faster they could get to solid ground again.

Kang-dae nodded and they were off again, Kang-dae leaping to a building that was the same height as the one they were already one. The landing was a simpler there, Nakida only swinging side to side a bit to keep their balance as Kang-dae didn't pause, continuing to the next edge and jumping off.

Nakida glanced at the map, double-checking where they should be. For the moment, they were a little off course, but it wasn't something they could help with where the buildings had built. "We need to go more north!" and they weren't sure if Kang-dae heard them, not with the wind stealing their words, but Kang-dae tightened his hand on their cables again and the next time he landed on a rooftop, he changed direction, not moving in a straight line.

Fuuuck! They knew it was coming ahead of time and Nakida braced themselves as they swung around in a big arc, letting their momentum slingshot them over the rooftop and they pulled their cable in the opposite direction, making sure they were behind Kang-dae as he leaped to the next rooftop.

They could feel their muscles start to protest the longer it went on. It was mostly in their shoulders and stomach but they could feel it spreading. They'd also gotten used to the heart stopping way they were travelling - they had a feeling it was because they weren't given enough time to _think_, only enough time to react before they had to swerve up another building. That, and their control over their cable was unfailing, something they knew they could count on even while their body was tiring out.

Another check to their map and - "Two more buildings from here!"

They weren't sure, but they thought they could see the familiar glowing sign of their inn in the darkness.

Another squeeze, and another thing Nakida had gotten used to was how Kang-dae communicated through their cable.

When they reached the last building, Kang-dae jumped straight down an alley, Nakida following. They used their cable to guide their way from wall to wall, slowing themselves down that way.

They landed and bent over with their hands braced on their knees, panting and feeling their blood pump around every single area for their body.

"Are you okay?" Kang-dae murmured, a few steps away from them.

"Will be," they gasped, wiping wet strands of hair away from their forehead. "As soon as I can lie down." Or more accurately flop into a bed and _not move_ until their skin stopped tingling.

Nakida unbound their cable from their legs and board, their feet feeling free after being kept contained after that amount of time. They didn't try to move their legs just yet, their leg muscles stiff; instead, they drew that cable back into their wrist. That was an easy command to keep constant and they focused on the cable around Kang-dae's hand.

He wasn't breathing hard and Nakida could feel his heartbeat wasn't elevated through their cable. They knew it had to be because of his modifications, but they felt sour about it nevertheless and how much they had been affected by what they'd done.

"How is she?" Nakida asked as they drew their other cable into their wrist.

"Still unconscious," Kang-dae murmured. "She hasn't stirred yet, but I didn't see her hit her head on the way down."

There was that, at least.

Taking a breath, they tilted back and forth on their board, getting used to being able to change the position of their feet again before stepping off it.

Solid ground felt _so good_. And also not so solid after being in constant movement. Nakida leaned left and right, trying to adjust back to it, shaking out their legs.

They closed the map and opened up a different window, starting a scan of all the close-by camera feeds being sent out. As soon as the three of them had a room, they'd delete the incriminating feeds.

While their legs tried to feel like legs again, Nakida slipped their minimised 'board into their bag, pulling their gloves back on.

"It's to your right," Nakida said, leading the way once everything was in place. Not like he could miss it, really.

Kang-dae followed them, Huian looking paler against the harsh streetlights when Nakida glanced at her.

The three of them walked into the reception area and Nakida booked them into a family room with three beds on the machine, leaving their current room untouched. It could look suspicious if they checked out just as someone checked in. They doubted it would be checked up on, but it was better to be cautious. They'd already paid for their old room for the night, so it no-one would care until tomorrow.

They picked up the set of swipe keys and led the way up the stairs to their room. The key worked on the first try and Nakida flicked the lights on, holding the door open for Kang-dae.

The room had three beds, all of them facing the same way. Both of them were silent as they took in the room and Nakida sighed, rubbing the bridge of their nose. "I'm taking this bed." They gestured towards the bed they were standing next to, already claiming it by setting their bag on top of it. They didn't want to spend time with who had a preference for where a person was in a room and Huian wasn't going to argue at that point.

"Fine," Kang-dae said, laying Huian on the middle bed. After that, he went over to their curtains and closed them, the sound rasping.

Now that they had that sorted out, Nakida flopped onto their bed with a groan, dragging their bag up with them. The bed was a bit softer than the bed in their previous room but it was a bed and that was all that mattered to them right now. They pulled out their console, switching it on as they straightened themselves up and leaned back on their headboard. Stretching their toes, they started on task of making sure the camera feeds wouldn't remember their presence.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>They scanned the network of feeds open in front of them, skipping back a few minutes. Once they saw their little group appear on a few feeds (was it only that time? It felt later) the closed the ones that weren't relevant so they could focus.<p>

Muscles protesting, Nakida hacked into the first camera and switched off its wireless, making sure it couldn't any more data. They couldn't hack directly into what camera feed's server from where they were (and wouldn't it be ironic if its company was the one they'd just ran from?) but they could knock out the camera from being scanned if the tech thought it wouldn't have caught anything important.

There was only one other feed that had caught sight of them and that was at a distance, where their faces weren't that clear.

Nakida turned their head at a soft sound and stopped, frowning.

"What is it?" They'd been immersed in keeping the three of them safe but…Kang-dae was staring down at Huian, his eyes wide. They looked at what had his attention, but from what they could see, it only seemed like there was a dark tattoo stark against Huian's wrist that could explain Kang-dae's reaction.

"Nothing," he said, the syllables running together. "It's nothing." He shook his head and raised his attention, going towards Huian's head.

As Nakida watched, he lifted his fingers to her jaw, opening her mouth.

"Uh, what are you doing?" they said, straightening, making sure he wasn't going to try to do something. They were close enough to kick him if he did.

"Checking for injuries," he said, not looking up.

"Through her mouth." Right. That made sense.

Kang-dae seemed to pick up their terse tone and he tilted his head to look at them. "She could have internal bleeding; if there's blood in her mouth, she could need help as soon as possible."

…Oh. That explanation made sense and it explained the rumpled state of Huian's clothes at her stomach. They hadn't trained in even first aid to know if there were signs of anything they should worry about.

And now they weren't distracted by that, Nakida couldn't deny the…_thing_ they'd been feeling wasn't just their body complaining about the workout they'd given it. Their breathing had settled to something somewhat normal and while their heartbeat was still trying to quieten down, there was something else there. They couldn't say the goosebumps on their arms were from the cold now, now when they'd been overheating; it could be from having strangers close to them in a private space that was setting them on edge though.

"All right," they said, turning back to the camera feeds. "Sorry."

They could leave the second feed alone – one camera being knocked off was a normal occurrence, but something happening to a second in the same area could alert people of something happening rather than hiding their presence. There was enough of the three of them obscured that it should be all right. Nakida hoped. Kang-dae's and Huian's faces weren't in full view for a face recognition scan to be able to identify them with one-hundred accuracy at least.

While they kept Kang-dae in their peripheral vision, they tuned into the police chatter, listening to see if they were looking for anyone matching Kang-dae's or Huian's description.

The channels didn't seem busy, and no-one had been dispatched for the security building either. Which meant the security guards hadn't been found yet, or the Union was handling it themselves. Hm. They'd keep it open, in case that changed.

Kang-dae stood up and they watched him over the top of their windows as he walked across to go to the bathroom. They heard him running the tap and return with a wet washcloth.

When he folded it up and placed it on Huian's forehead though, the police chatter wasn't loud enough to cover the _hiss_ that came from nowhere and when Kang-dae pulled his hand back, purple _tentacles_ tried to follow, squirming over the washcloth. Slicing through it.

"What the _fuck is that_?"

The tentacles were connected to Huian's skin and Nakida had a sick feeling that _that_ was where Huian's 'bruises' went. There was a crease in between Huian's eyebrows, but other than that, she didn't seem to be reacting to what was happening to her.

"Shit," Kang-dae muttered under his breath, and how was he so calm about what he just saw?

Nakida blinked and then the washcloth was gone. It was in Kang-dae's hand, a few tenacles still moving over it.

He swiped at his communicator, putting someone on speed dial.

Wait - dammit. If he was calling someone - Nakida pounced on their console again, checking where the signal was going. Except they couldn't. Nakida knew his phone was on and ringing someone, but they couldn't pinpoint anything else about it. Who had _designed_ this?

...Right, they hadn't been able to track Kang-dae's phone last time either.

But that at least alleviated some of their worry that they could be found that way.

The call was answered, a blond man with blue eyes on the other side. "Ishi-" The man's flickered to them for a second. "Kang-dae, what's wrong?"

Hm, the man had probably been about to call Kang-dae by an older name. Nakida wasn't curious about finding out what he was called; if he'd wanted to be called something else by them, he would have said. Though they hadn't had the time to...

"This." Kang-dae turned his communicator around, showing him Huian.

A soft exhale. "...I see."

They both knew what was going on, what _that_ meant while Nakida flailed in the background. Nakida kept their mouth shut, listening and not interrupting, letting the two talk.

"She knew me, papa." So that was their relation together.

...Wait. Nakida frowned as another thought hit them. If the man was Kang-dae's father and Kang-dae had a longer life than usual, was that man the same?

"She knew my _name_."

Huh. From what Nakida had gleaned, they doubted the two would have met before, and if they had, Kang-dae wouldn't be so caught up by that. If it was the Union that had told Huian, why would they do that?

The man studied Kang-dae. "Is she the one-?"

Kang-dae's breath came out in an explosive sigh, his shoulders slumping. "No." He rubbed his face with a hand. "Later." He dropped his hand, shaking his head. "What can we do?"

The man pursed his lips. "Only wait, unfortunately. It will be up to her if she's - lives."

What had he been about to say but changed at the last moment? There were a few different options Nakida could think of, watching the purple tentacles sink back into Huian's skin, the skin going back to normal. But if those were in her _brain_, who knew what that could do to her.

...Well, Kang-dae and his father probably did from their reactions.

"Okay." Kang-dae nodded. "Thanks. I'll keep in touch."

His father nodded and they closed the call.

Kang-dae sighed, closing his eyes. "And...thanks for the help earlier," he murmured, opening his eyes to look at them.

Nakida eyed him. "You didn't need my help." He could have done this all himself - he had found Huian first, he knew someone who could give him advice on what was going on with Huian. They'd helped him with escaping somewhere not connected to his name, but he would have probably been able to handle it anyway. "Why did you accept it?"

He opened his mouth for a second, sounding like he was about to say something before he closed it again. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Uh-huh." Their lip twisted as they raised an eyebrow at him. "I've just been towed by you over tens of kilometres an hour and I know you can go even faster than that."

Kang-dae frowned at them, moving a bit so he could keep both Nakida and Huian in his sight. "...How do you know that?"

Nakida huffed and waved at the console in front of them. "I was able to get some of the recordings of you the second time I went in. You 'disappeared' from the feed, but I could see you were running."

His eyebrows quirked up. "Oh." Kang-dae shifted the weight on his feet, looking away.

"You thought I'd say something else?" Nakida said, trying to work out what his body language meant.

"Yeah," he said, his voice quieter. "It doesn't matter."

"Mmmn, no," they said, and they saw his eyes flick back to them. "I've seen a lot of shit in my life, had a lot of people to 'not do that' because it was dangerous or it would cause problems. But I did it anyway, because it seemed like if I didn't, no-one else would find out, or it would keep happening.

"So _tell me_ already and I'll decide for myself if I believe it or not." They'd pursed their lips at the end, waiting for his response.

It was mostly to blink at them.

"_Why_ do you-" They sighed, scrunching up their eyes as they covered their face. They were starting to get an inkling what this was about. "How did you know Tao?" they asked instead, switching topics.

Kang-dae kept acting like he was expecting something else from them, and if it was because he had a pre-made image of them from the Tao he'd known before, it would be better if they got rid of that before they could continue.

"You won't-"

Nakida glared at him, grabbed the pillow at their back and flung it in his direction.

He caught it like they had expected him to, and any other time, Nakida would have been amused at the sheer surprised expression on his face but not right now. "_Try. Me_. I've seen tentacles rise out of Huian's face, and I've seen _you_ grow claws and - I don't even know, fur? Stop stalling and get to the point."

Kang-dae set the pillow down on the foot of their bed, his fingers lingering before letting go completely. More time wasting. "You saw the claws."

"Yeah." It was dark in the feed, but the fur had helped to direct Nakida's attention, especially with the way he was moving with wide swings.

"And what did you think?"

Nakida narrowed their eyes but didn't snap at him to get to the point. Was he trying to lead them to the answer, or was he trying to explain why he couldn't answer straight out.

'Modified human' was on the tip of their tongue, but that didn't seem quite right and they hesitated. There was something about the memory of Kang-dae fighting like that that was scratching the back of their mind, but they couldn't place what it was.

With those claws…

They exhaled, rubbing their forehead as they looked him over again, seeing the deep scars that marked his body. …They should offer him one of their own clothes; they were sure there was one loose enough that it wouldn't be too tight over him.

And that set off another half-memory and they frowned, trying to chase it. They hadn't met him before this; why was he feeling like a hazy half-remembered stranger from years ago now?

Something clicked and they could picture Kang-dae with spiked up hair, fur tracing over his cheeks, the claws in high definition, like they'd seen him change in person rather than trying to imagine what he looked like from a dim camera feed.

"…Werewolf…?" they said, still frowning. That _did_ sound off, but after everything they'd seen over the last hour, they weren't as self-conscious about saying it.

"_Hah_." Kang-dae sighed, and his shoulders slumped. It wasn't exasperation, something else in there. Relief…?

"Do you mind…?" He waved towards the foot of their bed, and they shook their head, starting to dig through their bag.

It had seemed like they'd broken through to him, and they pulled out a few of their clothes bags, sorting through them, trying to find one that could fit Kang-dae.

When they found one, they held it up for him to see. 

* * *

><p>'Ishibil' is 'twenty-one' in Korean.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>It was a button-up top; so long as he didn't do up all the buttons, he should be able to squeeze into it. "Are you okay wearing this?"<p>

He glanced at it and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

They opened up the bag, the bag expanding as air filled it. While they took out the top, Kang-dae stared at Huian. From what they could see, it was at her tattoo.

"Here," they said, holding it out.

He took it and pulled it on with a little difficulty. But he got it on, even if he could only do up a few buttons.

When that was done, Kang-dae frowned again before flicking his gaze up at them. "...Do you believe in reincarnation...?"

They raised their eyebrows at the question and held back their flippant answer of them being lovers in a previous life. Except... Nakida stayed silent, turning that idea over in their head. They weren't religious, didn't practice most of the teachings, though they did honour their ancestors on the days they were meant to.

Reincarnation was something that was used for plot devices, for lovers to find each other across lifetimes. Nakida couldn't deny that there was something between them and Kang-dae, how he'd reacted to them, how there was an almost intangible familiarity to him.

And they'd said they would decide if they believed or not.

"Huh," they said, leaning back on the headboard, closing up the bag and watching it compress again. "I do now."

They closed most of the windows hovering around them, keeping the police chatter open as they continued to mull the idea over. "How come you remember it so well? I wouldn't have realised if you hadn't reacted the way you had."

They'd been watching Kang-dae and saw his wince before he hid it.

...Right. Of course. "You...didn't die, did you." His IDs tracked back over a hundred years, they knew that. He wasn't something trying to remember through a filter of new memories; he'd always had them - he'd experienced it happening.

"...No."

And _that_ explained why he'd reacted the way he had to their avatar when they'd first met.

"Ah, sorry."

"It was a long time ago." He shrugged.

"Mmhm. It still means a lot to you." Again, or else he wouldn't have reacted the way he had. And did that mean Huian was also someone he'd known before...? She'd known an important name of his and by the way he kept staring at her tattoo -

Which was an almost match on his own wrist, from the shape and size. Huian's was simpler, like... Nakida huffed. Like it had gone through a filter or someone was seeing Kang-dae's from a distance. Damn. What were the chances of meeting two people from their previous life at the same time?

And who both had vague recollections as well.

He didn't answer that. Instead, he closed his eyes and opened his communicator again. "You probably still want proof, don't you?"

Nakida watched him do that. "Are you asking me because you don't think I believe you, or because that's what your Tao would want?"

Kang-dae froze. "A-ah."

It was obvious to see what his answer was.

"Show me it anyway," they said, leaning forward.

He pursed his lips, his gaze inward and then nodded, brushing his hair away from his face. "All right."

His interface was still painful to look at, but he got to his photo album and opened it up. Going by the number in the corner, there were a few hundred pictures there.

He flicked right to the start and opened up the first one.

Oh.

That-

Oh...

It was a picture of three people, three male-bodied, all of them wearing black suits. In the centre was Kang-dae, whose shoulders were being held by the one on his right. Kang-dae had a skittish expression on his face, like the picture had been a surprise and he didn't know what to do. He was turning towards the one on his right, his mouth open like he was going to ask a question.

The one on his right was Tao. From the bowlcut, the white stripe in his black hair, light skin and smiling towards the camera, it was the Tao Nakida had constructed. The only difference they could see was his eyes were black instead of blue, and some black bangles peeked out from under his sleeve. They hadn't put black nail polish on their Tao either.

And even then, Tao's eyes had been one of the things Nakida had spent the most time thinking about, neither of them looking quite right to Nakida before they'd let a randomiser tell them what to make Tao's eyes. They'd never put bangles on their Tao, but wore them on occasion themselves.

The one on Kang-dae's _left_-

"Wait..." they murmured, turning away and opening up one of their folders on their console. Kang-dae didn't say anything and they scanned through the files they had until they found the one they wanted.

The file opened up to one of their sketch files, where they'd filled the entire page with miscellaneous thing that had caught their eye. Or something that had been on their mind at the time and they'd let their hand wander.

Where was it...

It had been next to the couple with the - there! They zoomed into the picture they wanted, and exhaled, their eyes going wide.

They hadn't imagined it.

In front of them was a drawing they'd done a few days ago of Kang-dae and the long-haired one. They'd coloured in the hair with broad sweeps of purple, not knowing why but just wanting to make sure that the colour was _there_. And that was who was standing on Kang-dae's other side in his photo, a long hair-tie glinting in the background.

"Damn," they muttered. There wasn't any denying that there was _something_ going on and while Kang-dae could have made the pictures of Tao to make his point, that didn't explain how Nakida had drawn the other before Kang-dae had said anything.

"Can I flick through?" they asked, and he nodded, swiping the folder for them to see.

They started to go through photos. A lot of them seemed candid, most of them with the trio one way or another. Later, there were other subjects, two with white hair and Nakida paused at the two new ones, who didn't look surprised. Blond and black haired, and with those clothes... They knew them too, had drawn them before as well.

Kang-dae's parents. Nakida hadn't recognised the blond one at a glance, not when he'd been wearing more casual clothes in the call.

"Tao..." Kang-dae started, his voice just over a murmur. "He liked to steal our phones and take pictures of everyone."

Nakida could see that; most of the photos seemed to be taken by Tao, his arm raised towards the camera. They didn't say anything, letting him talk. Nakida didn't think he was really talking to them, his gaze focused on the photos.

"Said he wanted to make sure we always had something to remember each other by."

Ouch.

There were kids there as well, wearing the same uniform as the white-haired people as they crowded around a table, cheering over a board game, the table littered with snacks.

The next file Nakida swiped through was a video, not a photo. They glanced at Kang-dae and he was frowning, his eyebrows bunched together.

"I don't know what this one is; you can play it."

Taking that as permission, Nakida pressed the play icon.

Someone was walking through a corridor and then using the camera to peer around a corner. It opened up to a large living-kitchen room, with a TV taking up most of a wall. How _old_ was this video - it wasn't a hologram.

Nakida saw the head of silver hair just before someone started talking.

[And here we have a sleeping wolf, exhausted from a day's work.] The speaker was talking in a whisper, like they were in a documentary.

A groan and Kang-dae tilted his head back to blearily glare at the speaker.

[Fuck off, Tao. I c'n hear you.] So that's who was behind the camera. And that was what Tao sounded like; it was deeper than what Nakida expected.

[The wolf growls at a _completely_ innocent passerby because he's a grouch.] Tao had lost the whisper, his voice going to a more normal tone, walking over. Even without seeing Tao's face, Nakida just _knew_ he had a wide grin spread across his face.

[_Tao!_] ...And Nakida had heard that tone from Kang-dae before. That explained his exasperated tone, if this is what Tao had been like with him.

[Okay, okay. But _you_ need to go to bed.] A hand appeared from the bottom of the screen and prodded Kang-dae.

Kang-dae batted the hand away, glowering. [Do not.]

Tao didn't seem to be perturbed by that rejection, trying to poke him again. [Mmhm. C'mon, ajussi, you'll have a crick in your neck if you sleep like that and then the children'll worry.]

This time, Kang-dae let himself be poked in the shoulder, sighing. [I won't.]

The angle of the camera changed, obscured by clothes. Was Tao holding it against himself?

[Tao, you fucking asshole! Put me down!]

...Oooh.

[It's this or dragging you u - hey! Hold still or else I'll drop you!]

There was a scuffle and then the video cut out.

"Hah…" Kang-dae was rubbing his forehead, a pained expression on his face.

"He was persistent, wasn't he?" Nakida said, their lips twitching at the antics.

"Yeah, he was," he murmured, sighing.

"Hmm..." Nakida considered the number of photos left in the album and then shook their head. "Thanks." They pushed the folder back to Kang-dae. They didn't need to see more; they were convinced. Looking through more of the folder was going through something personal and there was no need for that.

He nodded, looking over the folder before closing it. When he closed his eyes again, exhaling, Nakida said, "Nakida."

Kang-dae tilted his head at them, a crease between his eyebrows again. "Huh?"

"My name," they added to clarify. "Nakida's my name." If he had problems setting them apart from Tao, then giving him another name to call them would be a start to help.

His eyes widened. "Ah."

"And I'm agender," they said, their lips twisting up into a smirk. "So 'they' pronouns for me."

Kang-dae's gaze drifted again and it wasn't the closing of an expression, an indignant expectation of an explanation or wariness. That was good.

"Nakida..." he murmured, nodding. "All right."

A yawn blindsided Nakida and they raised a hand to cover it. Yeah, their body was done for the day and wanted _rest_.

They closed most of the apps, leaving the police one running. "I'm going to sleep." Though that was was obvious. They could work out a plan of what to do once their brain could actually think.

Kang-dae held out their pillow towards them, his hair covering his eyes.

...Hm... Nakida eyed him and sighed, their stomach twisting. Didn't want to look at them, huh? Maybe they shouldn't have told him their gender after all.

They took the offered pillow and-

"M-21."

-blinked. Was that...? They stayed silent, setting the pillow by their side.

"That's...my name," he said, lifting his head to look at them.

They huffed, chuckling. Ishibil. What his father had been about to say in the call. "Damn." They ran a hand over their hair. "I guess you're not the only one who has expectations. Okay," they said, nodding. "Do you want me to call you that?" That name would be one to draw attention.

He snorted, shaking his head. "Kang-dae's fine."

"All right." They put their console on the bedside and slid under the blankets. "See you in the morning."

"Yeah." Kang-dae's voice was faint. "Sleep well."

Was that something he used to say to Tao? Nakida couldn't dwell on it too much, already drifting to sleep.

xOx

Shit. M-21's heart was racing, his breathing barely kept in check. He couldn't believe he'd just given his name like that.

But it was - it wasn't Tao. It was Nakida. Who was agender. He had to make sure to remember that. Because sh - they weren't Tao. They were their own person. He'd been trying to tell himself that since the first time they'd met, but now it was easier to see, even if he could still see some echoes of Tao there. It just didn't mean he could treat he - them like they were Tao.

And then there was Huian, who had recognised him on sight and had Dark Spear active in her. Nakida wasn't the same - there hadn't been the same reaction when M-21 had carried he - them on his back. But it could still happen, something could trigger Dark Spear becoming active in them.

If Dark Spear had always been active in Huian, she wouldn't have been able to live for so long without bringing attention to herself. And what could have triggered her... M-21 sighed, slumping his shoulders, bracing his hands on Nakida's bed.

The Union would have done it. Or just being in a situation that was so similar to what Takeo had gone through before.

And Huian had to be Takeo's reincarnation, what with how Dark Spear hadn't tried to eat him (for whatever reason; Dark Spear recognised him as a comrade? That was...disconcerting. Unless Dark Spear was also carrying Takeo's feelings) and Huian's tattoo.

The Union could have given her it, but it was faded at the edges, some of the colour washed out; Huian had gotten the tattoo years ago. It could have been something she'd gotten at the training the Union had given her but it didn't seem like something the Union would do. The tattoo was different, more basic. The Union could have changed how they branded their experiments, but this didn't feel quite right.

He got to his feet, listening to the police chatter as he went to the bathroom. He could leave right now, go to the security building now that he had a better idea where the entrance was, but he couldn't and he knew it. Which was why he was rewetting the washcloth instead.

Huian could still be consumed by Dark Spear; she wasn't safe yet.

He wrung out the washcloth and went back to Huian's side. This time he put his fingertips to Huian's head first; she was hot, sweat beading there. Like he thought, Huian's brow creased at his touch, dark tendrils snaking out of her skin. They twisted around his fingers, tightening - then stopped.

It stayed like that for a few seconds, and while it was distracted, M-21 slid the washcloth on.

Dark Spear curled around it but didn't try tearing into it. Good.

That done, M-21 went to his bed, opening up his communicator again. It _had_ been a while since he'd last looked through the album…

* * *

><p>I'd really wanted to have Nakida give M-21 a black off-shoulder top, haha.<p>

Whoops, so I forgot about M-21's tattoo in the previous part.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Huian frowned, her eyes fluttering open. Her head was throbbing, but it didn't feel like a hangover - there was a pressure in her head but nothing else. She didn't feel thirsty, and felt full, in fact. She'd spent a lot of time dreaming, she knew that. Dreams filled with fantastic fights with her in the centre of it, wielding spinning guns or a massive rifle.<p>

She could hear a radio and - and there was someone else in her... this wasn't her room. She pushed herself up and glanced around - it looked like a basic inn room with only a few furnishings.

"We're not going to hurt you," the other woman said, looking up from her console screens. There was something about her that Huian couldn't place that seemed familiar. They hadn't met before though, Huian knew that much. There was something wrong with that statement, but she ignored it, focusing on what the other woman had said.

"We." There were more people involved. But she wasn't in the lab anymore, right? Any place was better than the lab.

"Yeah, we."

Huian heard a toilet being flushed and when the occupant of the bathroom left-

"21!" She brightened at the sight of him, relaxing. She wasn't caught in an act by the Union.

...The Union?

And '21 had paused at the doorway, his expression saying he didn't know where to look.

"Ah, shit," she said, looking away, blood heating her cheeks. "Sorry, I thought - you reminded me of someone." She had never met. "My head's pretty messed up." It was an understatement, but for the moment she felt like _herself_. How long that was going to last, she didn't know.

"Hm." The man (and '21' was still on the tip of her tongue, no matter what she thought) pulled up the only chair in the room and set it between her bed and the other woman's. Sitting down on it, he said, "Do you remember what happened?"

"I'm not too sure," she admitted, pulling herself up more so she could sit better. Her brain was filled with fog, making it hard to think. Everything hadn't felt real, like she'd just dreamed it. But here she was, in what seemed to be an inn in plain white clothes she didn't own. She rubbed the crook of her elbow, but there wasn't any pain or bruising there, nothing to say she'd had a needle in her a few hours ago. If it was a few hours ago. The sunlight streaming in from the window said it had to be at least morning.

Huian's imagination wasn't good enough to conjure up whole entire lives of complete strangers though, not in the detail she was remembering them in.

Maybe it wasn't the memories of those people hadn't gone, but they'd settled down. Into her.

Was she still the person she was a couple of hours ago before? If she had all these new memories, did that still make her the same person?

She still _felt_ like herself, but could she say that objectively? Maybe she'd changed and thought she was the same.

And all this was giving her a headache.

Huian groaned, leaning forward to rub the heels of her hands into her forehead. "I remember some stuff." Or she remembered all of it in perfect clarity. She didn't want to poke it too hard. "You won't believe me." And there was something about _that_ statement that was also off, and she wasn't sure why.

There was a snort in front of her and Huian lifted her head to look at the other woman.

"You can give us a try - we'll probably believe you."

"No, you won't." How could they believe that she had something in her that _ate_ people? Tore them to pieces, carved out the soul while the body was still living?

And she'd poked too hard at the memories, her brain buzzing again, filling her skull. Shit shitshit! She gasped, her brain feeling like it was pulsing to get out, throbbing at the back of her eyes. Why had she done that -?

There was a pressure on her shoulder and she grabbed it like a lifeline, letting the contact ground her.

It helped as she focused on the physical feeling rather than her brain and the world sharped to her legs curled up under her.

Wait.

"Don't touch-!" She tried to jerk back, but '21's hand was tight on her shoulder and she hadn't let go of him yet. He was going to get eaten like the others and it would be her fault! She could feel the tendrils curl around '21's fingers, wrap them up and -  
>And -<p>

That was it.

Panting, her eyes wide, Huian stared at the purple and black tendrils pulsing around his hand. Not doing anything.

_Comrade_.

"What?" she croaked. She couldn't have heard that right. It was probably an echo from another person's memory.

_Comrade_, Dark Spear said again, exuding contentment, almost purring. _We wouldn't hurt our comrade. It's been a long time._

Dark Spear had missed him...?

Huian stared up at '21 - and shit, that wasn't his name - or was it? If Dark Spear knew him. …His nickname was a number?

He gazed down at her and then frowned at Dark Spear. "What's it saying?" He knew it too. He wasn't surprised and terrified like she thought he would be.

And the other woman wasn't yelling anything either or trying to press herself up against the wall, though she was staring at Dark Spear too, rubbing an arm.

"Comrade," she said, and her throat closed up, because Dark Spear had tried to take control of her mouth, tried to talk _through_ her.

'21 tightened his hand on the tendrils, breaking its hold on them, and Huian felt its disappointment when he let go.

"How…" Huian said, struggling to get the words out, working to have control over her body again. "How does it know you? And why isn't it trying to _eat_ you?"

"Complicated," '21 muttered. "And I'm not sure."

"'Eat'," the other woman echoed. "That would have _eaten_ you?"

'21 winced. "Dark Spear could have eaten me if it didn't like me; it's got a habit of-" His gaze flicked to Huian.

"Of what?" Huian said, not liking the way he was looking at her. Guilty. Trying to hide something. "It's in me; I should know if it's going to try and do something _else_." It would be one less surprise and maybe she could be prepared for it when it happened.

"Has Dark Spear tried to make deals with you?" He sat down on his chair again, watching her.

"Oh." That. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "It was trying to get my soul when we were escaping." She paused, taking a breath. "Said it would get more power if I did and we could escape."

He looked her over and it was obvious what her response had been to those deals.

But now that she was focusing on '21, there was a different kind of buzzing in her mind, tugging at her attention. Huian turned her head to face the other woman, who was studying her in the same manner.

"...What is it?" '21 asked.

"What _is_ that?" the other woman said, staring at her.

Huian's skin was prickling, almost...like it was resonating.

She could see '21 looking between them from the corner of her eyes.

"I think...we can feel where each other is."

The other woman closed her windows and slipped off the bed, taking slow deliberate steps away. Huian didn't turn her head to look, but she knew where she was without listening or trying, like they had sonar or were connected somehow.

She swallowed, biting her lip. She had enough people in her head already; she didn't want _another_ one, one that had her own body.

Huian closed her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I know where she is." Her only consolation was she only knew where the other woman was and didn't seem to be connected with her brain; she couldn't feel any other emotions or thoughts that could be from her.

"Ah, 'they'," the other - oh, person corrected. "But yeah, it's the same for me."

"Sorry," Huian said, opening her eyes again.

"It's fine," they said, walking back around to their bed. "And I'm Nakida," they said with a small bow.

"Huian," she said, looking at '21, not sure what he would say. Would it be the name she'd been using for him?

He looked uneasy, glancing between them. If he knew about Dark Spear, what did this connection between them mean?

"M-21," he said, looking at her. ...That was his name? That wasn't exactly a normal one... "But Kang-dae's fine."

"Kang-dae," she repeated, trying to tell that to her not-memories. It didn't seem to work; the name she associated with him was '21.

"So," Nakida said, sitting back on their bed, "do you know why we can feel each other?" They waved between the two of them.

"I think so," '2 - Kang-dae draw out, his lips pursed. His gaze dropped for a second and then lifted again, looking between them.

* * *

><p>Ahahahaha, yeah, I had to quit there. XD; This chapterpart isn't something I can bash out like I did with the previous parts.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>"It's because the Dark Spear is resonating in both of you."<p>

"Both..." Nakida frowned, staring at him. "I don't...do that." They waved in Huian's direction.

Kang-dae sighed, scrubbing his face with a hand. "That's the only reason I can think of why you would both know where each other is." He dropped his hand, looking at her. "Does the name 'Takeo' mean anything to you?"

Huian nodded slowly. "That's...who Dark Spear said I am. That I was 'Takeo's soul' but-" She frowned, huffing. "I'm not." She was no person but her own.

But that wasn't true anymore, was it? She was a bunch of people who were chipping away are her core.

"Yeah, I know," Kang-dae said, his voice soft. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, grimacing. "You're Takeo's reincarnation; that's why you have Dark Spear in you, why it thinks you're Takeo." He sighed, looking back at her. "Why it remembers me."

Huian bit her lip as images flashed in her mind's eye, though there was an almost presence keeping them steady and making sure they didn't flood her mind. A fight, like the one she'd been dreaming about, one that had ended in a lot of blood. Her own. No, Takeo's. And '21's face above her own, smeared with blood, tears in his eyes.

"You saw us die..." Huian said, her breath catching. That had been Takeo's last memory.

Us?

Right, Takeo and Tao.

"Oh," she breathed, the memories slotting into place. "We'd _both_ had parts of the Dark Spear given to us."

"No," Kang-dae said, his voice firm, and Huian blinked at him. "Takeo and Tao had."

That's who she'd... Oh, _fuck_. Huian made a strangled noise at the back of her throat, curling up and gripping her hair. "_Shit_, I'm not going to stop doing that." She hadn't even realised something was wrong until it had been pointed out; it had felt natural, like that thought had always been there.

"So...that's why we can feel each other?" Nakida asked in the silence, and Huian jumped into the slight change of topic, something to not think about her sense of self being worn away without her realising it.

"Yeah," Kang-dae said, glancing between them, his face blanker than it had been before. "I guess...when you reincarnated, part of the Dark Spear reincarnated with you."

"And carried some of their memories to us," Nakida said, frowning again.

Nakida didn't seem to know about the Dark Spear from what Huian had seen so far. Why hadn't Dark Spear awakened with them? Or was it because they hadn't been a lab setting (since Takeo and Tao were both modified humans).

Huian closed her eyes, knowing that thought wasn't her own, thunking her head on the headboard. Maybe the reason why she was so wary of doctors and needles was because of Takeo's memories; her parents had said she hadn't had any bad experiences with any to explain why she disliked them, and had assumed it must have been from something she had watched.

"Yeah," Kang-dae said.

Now that her eyes were closed and she wasn't concentrating on Nakida, Huian could feel a faint pulse elsewhere. Like what she felt with Nakida, but fainter.

She frowned, trying to concentrate on it.

"Huian...? What is it?"

"I think...I can feel someone else with Dark Spear." As far as Takeo's memories told her (and she was fucking glad she made that distinction) there should only be three people with Dark Spear at most.

"That can't be right," Kang-dae said. "Papa is the only other person with Dark Spear."

"And where is he?" Nakida asked.

"On the other side of the country; he and dad wouldn't come here unless I asked or thought I was in trouble."

Kang-dae didn't think the possibility of being eaten by Dark Spear was 'in trouble'. But then, maybe he hadn't gotten in contact with them since he'd found out, or had known Dark Spear wouldn't hurt him.

There was a pause. "Huian, do you know if any of the scientists had been able to take any of the Dark Spear from you?"

Dark Spear reared up in her head, indignant and snapping at that memory.

"...Yes. Joyce." Though that name wouldn't mean anything to them. She hadn't thought much about Joyce making Dark Spear consume the rat, not after everything else, and not after she'd tried to _forget_ the sounds the rat had made.

"Shit," Kang-dae hissed. "She must have made her own."

...How many people must Joyce had fed her Dark Spear for her to be able to feel her across the city?

And could Joyce feel where she was as well?

"She might have seen what I'd done to make the Dark Spear stronger," she said. Seen it on the camera feeds; there had to be a lot of cameras there. Or maybe it had been in the notes Joyce had read.

"I need to go stop her," Kang-dae muttered, getting to his feet.

"I'm coming with you," Huian said, lifting her head to stare at him. She wasn't going to sit around while Kang-dae dealt with it, not after what she'd been through.

"You're not-" He hissed, grimacing. "Not you too."

'Her too'? Huian glanced at Nakida, who had their arms crossed, a triumphant smirk on their face.

"You're outnumbered two-to-one; you can't do this by yourself."

"Both of you could get killed or worse if you come along." Kang-dae's lips were thin, his eyes narrowed.

"And you can't hide yourself from their cameras; you wouldn't be able to even _get_ to the entrance before the guards spot you." Nakida snorted, sharing a look with Huian. "And that's if you even know where to get into the lab."

Hah. There were a number of different entrances to the lab and only people who knew what to look for would be able to find them and get in.

Kang-dae was silent, looking between them. He let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping. "All right," he said, his gaze lowered. "We'll...we'll do this together."

There was something about Kang-dae's gaze that Huian couldn't put her finger on, but Takeo's memories nudged her, telling her she _had_ to talk to him (before he started spiralling).

"What is it?" she asked, watching his face.

He stilled and then looked at her, not moving his head. "Are you asking because of Takeo's memories?" He wasn't angry; there wasn't any stiffness to his muscles, his hands weren't clenched into fists and his speech hadn't been clipped.

"Sort of," Huian said, frowning. "They just know something's wrong. And..." She exhaled, knowing what the memories wanted but unsure about saying it out loud to him.

"And?" He lifted his head so his hair wasn't covering his face any more.

"They worry when they see you like this." Takeo was dead, but that didn't mean there wasn't memories in her head about how he felt whenever he saw M-21 like that. And it seemed like he did see M- Kang-dae like that a lot depending on what was happening around them.

Kang-dae closed his eyes and nodded. "I wasn't strong enough last time to protect Takeo and Tao, wasn't fast enough to get there in time, but now... Now I am." He ran a hand through his hair, making it flop back into place.

"So...we're doing this. Together."

"Yeah," Nakida said, nodding. They opened up a couple windows, looking at what seemed to be camera feeds. "The Union'll be covering that exit though..."

"It's fine," Huian said, recognising the view from one of the feeds. "There are other places to get in."

Nakida glanced at her, their eyebrows raised. "Did someone tell you all the exits or something?"

"...No," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "When Dark Spear eats someone...I remember what the person knows. It doesn't just eat someone, it takes the soul as well." Two people were enough to know most of the more commonly used entrances and exits of the lab.

"_Shit_."

She was surprised Dark Spear hadn't talking with her as much as before, but maybe it was because it wasn't as needed, or it had been sated from the people it had eaten. Or maybe it was because Kang-dae was there.

And Takeo's memories of Dark Spear were different from hers, Dark Spear being more violent and bent on taking over his body, feeling like it was skinning him alive.

Was it because Takeo had reincarnated, or was it because it had mixed together with Takeo's memories it was less volatile, why it refused to attack Kang-dae?

"Are you hungry?" Kang-dae asked her, looking at her, frowning.

Huian shook her head. "Dark Spear...consumed two people; I don't think I need to eat for at least a day." But a drink would be nice.

"All right," he said, putting the chair back. "We're going to have to get there as soon as possible; Joyce might leave before we get there."

"Or she'll still be adding to Dark Spear," Huian muttered, glowering. Either of the options were not things Huian wanted.

"How are we getting there?" Huian said, getting up. They _could_ walk right up to them, and Huian doubted people would be searching for them, not when Joyce had her own Dark Spear to play with; only if Joyce wanted more, but she could add to her own herself, which she'd apparently been doing.

Kang-dae and Nakida shared a look, and Nakida covered their face.

"Rooftops," Kang-dae said.

"Roof-" Oh. Takeo and Tao used to be able to do that. She felt vertigo just at the memories. "But...we can't do that," she said, looking at Nakida.

"I can carry you," Kang-dae said. Huian didn't doubt _that_.

"And I can feel aching afterwards," Nakida grumbled. "I'm still sore from last night. But don't say I should stay here," they added before anyone could say anything.

"I wasn't." 

* * *

><p>Nakida went out and bought M-21 a top that fitted him properly, haha.<p>

Aaaand I'm at a shaky part in my plot, so the next parts could be shorter as I battle with the plot and characters.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

Missed a day, whoops.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, after Huian had changed into the clothes Nakida had bought for her and had a drink, Huian tilted her head back and peered up at the rooftop far above her head. It was such a long distance away but Takeo's memories didn't think much of it; it was a standard height. And she wasn't Takeo, wasn't enhanced at all.<p>

"How do you want to be carried?" Kang-dae asked, as she watched the cables slide out of Nakida's wrists, pooling around their legs and 'board. Both of them had been influenced by their past memories, huh? She rubbed her thumb over her tattoo, seeing what it had used to look like it Takeo's memories.

"In your arms," she said, her lips at a tilt. It was better than being carried on his back, when his speed could snatch her off.

He nodded and there was a vague unsettled feeling in her stomach at how she had to look _up_ to Kang-dae's face rather than down.

She really hoped she would stop comparing Takeo's memories with what she was seeing or experiencing soon.

Kang-dae nodded and Huian went over, her heart fluttering at the thought of jumping across rooftops. There wasn't anything to worry about; Kang-dae had done it a thousand times before and so had Takeo - this would be the first time _she'd_ done it though, and getting tot he inn while she'd been unconscious didn't count, not when she hadn't been aware at the time.

She got scooped up and Huian put her arm around his shoulders securing herself. She twisted around and saw Nakida, their lower legs attached to their 'board, the other cable snaked into Kang-dae's hand.

"Ready?" Kang-dae asked, looking at both of them.

"Yeah," Huian said, and Nakida nodded.

Huian felt him bend his arms after their responses.

And they were in the air, the window pulling her hair and she felt gravity trying to keep a hold of her stomach. She knew what roofhopping felt like from Takeo's memories, but they weren't as clear as this, something that she could recall, but a step back from an actual experience.

Kang-dae was springboarding off the walls and Huian had enough time to look over his shoulder to see Nakida following the same path, twisting around to land feet first against the wall before being dragged into another direction.

Kang-dae landed on the roof, barely exhaling and Nakida's cables lifted up like a wave without him moving his hand. They appeared a second after, whizzing up past the rooftop and then diving down. They landed still moving in an arc around him.

And then Kang-dae was moving gain, taking a few steps and leaping across a gap as if it didn't exist. The next rooftop was higher than the last but it didn't make a difference to him. Huian watched Nakida over Kang-dae's shoulder and part of her, Takeo's memories, wanted to do the jumps herself, even though she knew she could do a tenth of what Kang-dae was doing.

She still wanted to do it, still felt sure enough she could make it.

That was more breathtaking than the memories that snuck into her own like they had always been there; that she could think there was something she could do but when she did it, found her body didn't match her expectations. And then plummet several stories to her death.

The more they bounced over rooftops, the more aware Huian because of the third Dark Spear, like a beacon she could see in the daylight, or always knowing where north was. It was like an itch at the base of her skull getting stronger with each step. Anger curled around her, Dark Spear's, wanting to fight with her now it wasn't confined anymore, stronger. It wanted revenge.

Could Nakida feel Joyce's Dark Spear as well? They didn't look like it, but they were concentrating on not becoming a bloody smear across a wall.

It was only an awareness Huian had with the connection; it didn't carry thoughts or emotions along with it, so they would find out if Joyce knew they were coming when they got there.

They landed a short distance away from the building and it was almost like a pulse Huian could feel across her skin; Joyce was so close she could _taste_ it. Each leap wasn't as dizzying as the last and Nakida enjoyed the view, the skyline against the bright sky.

"Huian?" Kang-dae said when they were all on their feet and Huian blinked, shaking her head. She'd been staring in the direction of the building, on the verge of taking a step towards it. "Where's the closest entrance?"

The closest entrance? Huian peered out into the street, reorienting herself, matching up what she could see to what Min-chul's memories knew.

"This w..." She glanced back at Nakida, who was still shaking out a leg. "Uh." Maybe they should wait for Nakida…

"Go," Nakida said, flapping a hand at her, minimising their 'board. "I won't be needing to feel my legs for much; if it's someone running, it'll be you two."

That was a good point. And they were really doing this, going back to the Union. It was just starting to be a reality after being distracted by the memories she had to sort through, getting used to

"All right." She nodded and started to lead them away from the building, towards the public toilets. "They don't want this entrance used a lot," she said as she took them into the non-binary toilets, "since it might get a bit obvious if people come in and not out."

"Scans?" Kang-dae asked Huian slid a tile away to reveal a codelock with a miniature keyboard under it.

"Not as far as…they knew," she said, trailing when she realised she was about to say 'I'. "They hadn't needed eye or fingerprint scans when they joined." She put in the code and it beeped.

"They don't seem to be worried about intruders," Nakida said.

"Fucking assholes," Kang-dae muttered with gritted teeth as the wall started to fold back, revealing an elevator door. "Too much hassle to keep the database updated when their modified humans' details had to keep being added or deleted."

Scans hadn't been needed in Takeo's time and it was probably for the same reason. That, and their data would keep changing with the modifications, wasting time when the modified human got caught out.

The wall was going back into place as the three of them got into the elevator. It didn't take long for the elevator to stop and when it opened, a brightly lit long corridor greeted them, branching off in different directions.

Joyce was on this floor, Huian could feel it.

Huian took a step forward but paused when she heard Nakida's hum.

"Do your memories tell you any private areas in here?" They were rubbing at the back of their neck.

"All of it is," Huian said, scrunching her eyes shut at the wave of memories telling her what happened behind some of those closed doors.

"But…this area's less used than the others," she said, starting to lead them down the left path, away from Joyce. "What do you need?"

Nakida didn't answer straight away and when she glanced at her in question, Nakida was studying her. "Any place with access to their system, which is anywhere; I just need a place where someone won't stumble across my body."

Huian let the memories guide her to a set of doors and put in the code to open it.

The doors slid open, the lights flickering on and solidifying after a few seconds. Inside the room were large liquid filled tanks. They were outdated – no-one really used them anymore, aside from a few months ago, and those had been a failure. The tanks weren't as efficient as modern methods.

The room smelled musty; it hadn't been opened for a while, maybe since those last experiments.

"Okay," Nakida murmured, going towards one of the panels in the walls. "Won't be long."

xOx

The Union's system wasn't that different from any of the other systems Nakida had hacked into before. At least glance, at least; there could still be surprises in surprise for them.

Alert caught and given them access to the camera feeds, Nakida floated towards them, stretching their conscious out.

No-one was there watching the feeds. Huh. But the guards were still humans who needed breaks, and if the people working here were used to it being secure, they had probably slacked off.

Now where were Kang-dae and Huian…

They scanned the feeds; there was far more of them than what the security company had above, and squished into smaller screens. How were the guards supposed to see anyone acting suspicious?

Or maybe that was the point, Nakida seeing one experiment in action, sliding their attention away from it. If it was hard to see, the guard could keep on with their job.

Where-? They spotted Kang-dae's silver hair in the feed. _Finally_. Connecting to his communicator was easy as usual.

[That was easier than I thought; you can move now.] They sent that as a text-based message, to make sure they could hear or feel anyone approaching and the guards wouldn't hear them.

Huian's eyebrows shot up at the sight of them. [Tao?]

[Yup. That's the name I use when hacking; it fits better, don't ya think?] That wasn't what Huian meant, and Nakida was fairly sure everyone knew it, but this was their element; they were used to dealing with people behind a screen one way or another and it was habit to slip into that persona here.

They didn't get an answer, Kang-dae already leaving the room.

[Do you know the code to leave the room?] Huian said, following him.

They watched the two leave, reaching for the appropriate feed. A small skip back and- [Yep. Got it.] They copied what the saw, making the code hover in front of them. They wrote over that feed; the problem was writing over their own presence was simple, joining up a blank feed to make the place look empty, but it was harder to do that when what they wanted to hide was moving, when they didn't know where they would go next.

Huian was two steps in front of Kang-dae and Nakida wanted to use the feeds to watch her without being seen, but there wasn't time for that. They hadn't known Huian before the Dark Spear had eaten those other people, only that small clash that had lasted a few seconds, so they couldn't judge if she was acting the same as before, or if the new memories had changed her. Her files had said she was driven, that was part of the reason why she'd been picked for the Joyce's training program but still… Nakida wasn't sure.

They turned their attention away from that, finding the cameras in their area to see if anyone was heading their way.

And there was. A pair in labcoats who could be going towards them.

[There's two people on your left. Don't go-] They checked the position of where the camera was to Kang-dae and Huian. [-left and then the second right.] Kang-dae and Huian might not need to go in that direction and the labcoats could have turned down a different corridor by the time they got there, but Nakida was too aware of the chance of the labcoats heading straight for them.

Kang-dae nodded and the two went straight, Huian's step faltering for a second at the junction, her head turning towards it. Checking for the labcoats or did she want to go down that way?

They changed the feeds they were focused on, getting rid of the ones that weren't as relevant and picking new ones.

They paused at a kind of hum in the air. That must be the guards returning. They hadn't felt this kind of electrification around them before and they started to slot the feeds back into their proper places, starting up another message.

No.

Wait, they _had_ felt this before.

They turned their attention to either side of them and saw the feeds lighting up column by column to their right. No-one was there and oh _shit_.

The Union wasn't using guards to protect their data; they were using an AI.

And AIs tended to 'delete' any intruders it came across.

xOx

[Guards are combe careful!]

M-21 frowned at the message, waiting for a follow up with more information.

There wasn't one.

Huian looked up the corridor and then back at Nakida's message. "Should we turn back?"

M-21 couldn't hear anyone coming so that could have been Nakida warning them their help would be limited for the moment.

'Be careful'… It wasn't a call for help, and he or Huian wouldn't be able to help them; moving their body would stop them from getting back to it, trapping their consciousness inside the system.

"No," he said, starting to walk again. He had to trust Nakida would be all right and could look after themself.

xOx

The good thing about AIs was that they were meticulous: so long as they weren't disturbed while executing their program, Nakida could float in plain view and not be noticed.

The problem was AIs picked up on disturbances far faster than humans and didn't need breaks for food or sleep.

And Nakida was glad AIs were banned from being used as guards in most systems because of the habit AIs had of causing essentially brain death when it caught intruders, changing the consciousness until the person was no longer who they used to be.

The AI swept up the feeds and then paused almost in front of Nakida.

Oh, shit, had it seen-?

The feed with Kang-dae and Huian maximised, a window popping up beside the feed, rolling text scrolling up until another image popped up in its place.

Kang-dae's face.

One beat, two beats, Kang-dae's face from the feed being extruded out and compared to the image of the one the AI had brought up.

[ALERT]

_Shit!_

It must have contacted the guards. Nakida opened up the connection to Kang-dae's –

The windows dropped out of view and Nakida knew they'd made a mistake, that the AI was more sensitive than the last ones they'd encountered and they were zooming back towards their body, the area around them agitating like it was about it attack them.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>Something was wrong. Nakida had sent them that message but hadn't gotten back to them since. Had they been caught by the guards?<p>

The thrum Huian could feel was almost like a heartbeat now, a taunt. She gritted her teeth, quickening her step. So close. She was so close to Joyce now.

"Huian."

She huffed, turning around. Kang-dae's lips were pursed, his eyebrows drawn in. "I kn-" His gaze flashed away from her and he straightened. "Get behind me."

Huian couldn't hear anything but she did it, going a few steps behind him.

"More than that."

She nodded, backing up some more, giving him space. It left her in between a junction, and she looked down one of the corridors, feeling Joyce was in that direction.

If she went around the corner, whoever was coming wouldn't see her. And then she could get Joyce.

Kang-dae could handle the people by himself through wit or strength, Takeo's memories showed her that, and Nakida could direct him to where she was afterwards. Or she could help them once it was done.

This was just something she _had_ to do.

Nakida turned and ran, hearing voices get further away, following the pulse of the other Dark Spear.

xOx

Nakida wasn't going to make it to their body. With every decisecond that ticked by, it became less of a possibility and more certain as the AI closed in on them.

Humans had limits on how fast they could move, imposed limits on themselves on how fast they _thought_ they should or could move.

AIs didn't have that. AIs didn't have doubts or could get distracted or stumble.

Except they could, if another program tried to run using the same resources the AI was.

And Nakida was desperate, trying to think of _any_ idea that they could use. The last times, they'd left the system and sent out the information they'd been able to gather from under the AI's attention. They hadn't been found by an AI before.

They didn't want to be caught either.

There was no time left. There was still far too much distance between them and their body.

Nakida could think of one thing they could try; it could mean they would never reach their body again, but it was better than their consciousness being deleted by the AI. A slim chance was better than none.

If Nakida could have taken a breath, they would have, but instead they let their hold on their consciousness go, flinging out their sense of self outwards.

A moment of dizziness.

Tumbling.

And then Nakida was so much _bigger_, their entire self stretched out over the entire system.

No, they _were_ the system. All the data was theirs to take however they wanted and the AI that had seemed so threatening a millisecond ago was only one small part of them that they could control.

It took one thought to switch the AI off, though it was not a threat anymore. They switched off the alert as there was no longer a threat. The threat had been taken care of.

Once the guards had received the message, they picked out the feeds to find their two companions.

xOx

Huian was in a different area than she'd been kept; it was the training areas for the modified humans, where they were tested or used as sparring rooms.

Not that one… Or that one… Dark Spear's anger beat at the back of her mind, driving her forward until she found the area where she walked past the other Dark Spear's pulse.

_That_ one.

This room didn't need a code and she walked in, already feeling Dark Spear start to curl down to her fingers. Not yet. There was still a limit to how much she could control, how much pain Dark Spear caused. She didn't know how to throw or create lances yet. Though with Takeo's memories filling her in…

Joyce was on the other side of the room, her back turned to her. The ground was littered with small puddles of Dark Spear, not looking like Joyce was controlling them.

What had she been doing? Trying to transfer it over like with the rat? Stretching Dark Spear out of her body until it couldn't support itself anymore?

Joyce turned around, looked at her, and then at the still open door behind her. "Hm, I would have thought M-21 was with you."

Huian froze, clenching her hands. "That's who you wanted to see." No her.

"Of course." Joyce lifted a hand, sweeping her hair back, pressing her fingers to her temple. "The amount of knowledge I could get from him, his strength, he would be far more worthwhile than you; someone like you, I have easy access to. Well," she corrected, pressing her fingers harder, "I already have."

With the way Joyce was rubbing her temples…

Joyce lips twitched up, seeing Huian's expression. "They weren't very happy about it either. I'm sure you know the feeling."

Huian did; she knew the headache all the memories caused, and Joyce probably had consumed more than two, just judging by how much of the Dark Spear she'd wasted around her.

Joyce's form blurred and it was Takeo's memories that yelled at her to _move_, to dive to the right.

She reacted in time, a wind tearing past and Huian had enough time to scramble back to her feet to see Joyce turning around again where Huian had just been standing.

How-? How was she so fast?

Except the answer was she'd modified herself, Takeo's memories giving Huian the information.

But it wasn't that.

Joyce had wanted Kang-dae, not just for his knowledge. But for his strength as well. She'd consumed modified humans as well.

And Joyce was now standing between Huian and the door.

Not that she would be fast enough to reach it before Joyce reached her.

Fuck.

xOx

_Fuck!_ M-21 wanted to speed down the corridor to find Huian, but he couldn't, not when there were so many corridors, so many different paths she could have taken.

Shit, why the hell had she ran? There hadn't been any guards in that direction.

This was his fault. If Huian was captured, hurt or killed, it was his fucking fault for being so fucking overconfident of his abilities.

Nakida hadn't been in contact either and that had to mean-

[01001011 01100001 01101110 01100111 00101101 01100100 01100001 01100101 00101110]

What the hell was _that_?

xOx

[Nakida?] Kang-dae's face was twisted, frowning, his eyes reading their message over and over again.

[Yes? Where is Huian?] Did they have to search for her?

[I can't understand you.] Kang-dae's voice was going soft. He had stopped moving. [ What are you trying to say?]

How could he not understand them? Their messages were short and clear.

[It's all in binary; I can't read that easily.]

…Binary? They checked the messages they had sent. The messages were not in binary; the messages were-

Hm.

The underlying message was in binary but had not been translated into text. It should have.

They traced the message back to themselves, reading the messages they had send to Kang-dae.

The messages had been binary.

Why had they sent the message in binary?

[Nakida?]

[I am still-] They stopped, seeing their message pop up as they input it in. It was still in binary. Their message should not be sending mid-message either.

Why…?

They tried again, making sure to message him with characters instead.

[I am still here.]

[Thank fuck,] Kang-dae said, his shoulder slumping. [What happened?]

What had happened? They had stopped the guards from attacking Kang-dae and Huian. They had shut down the AI.

Before that was…a vague blank.

They knew something had happened there, that was how they knew Kang-dae and Huian and had to help them, but other than that…

It was wrong.

They should know what had happened there. They had access to the entirety of the system; why could they only know what had happened a few minutes earlier?

But they knew what had happened earlier, what had happened the day before, the month before.

That wasn't what was important.

What was important was what had happened to _them_. What had happened to Nakida.

Nakida. The name Kang-dae was calling them. Their name.

They weren't the system.

They were Nakida.

And they had to collect themselves from where they had scattered themselves inside the system.

They had some of their sense of self back, no longer following the ever present tick of the clock and they disentangled themselves from the whole, trying to find the other parts of them.

They landed back onto one of the many pathways inside the system, no longer part of it. Nakida was still floating above the pathway, their form more cloud-like than human, and they collected themselves, focusing on a human shape. There weren't any guards to worry about catching them, and any steps to set them further apart from the system was what they needed to do.

Bit by bit, they flexed non-existent fingers, had hair that brushed their cheek. It was Tao's short straight hair. They were also wearing Tao's suit, but a thought made it flicker, changing to their physical body's appearance before they changed it back to Tao's. Good. They had control over that.

The question was whether all of them had made it out of the system or if there was still part of them there.

Nakida opened up the connection to the communicator with a wave of their hand. [Thanks.]

Kang-dae studied their face. [You didn't answer my question.]

[Long story.] Sort of. They didn't have the time right now. [Where's Huian?]

…Kang-dae's stricken expression told them everything.

xOx

Huian didn't have enough time to swear, her body straining as she deflected blow after blow.

"Never mind," Joyce said, slashing down at her again, claws elongating as they reached Huian. "_Your_ knowledge will be useful once I get it."

She blocked with the form Dark Spear had formed in her hand, a two-headed spear that flickered at the edges. She'd also been lucky with every single step so far. It had been Takeo's knowledge about Dark Spear that meant she could use it in that form, his familiarity with how to use it helping her to stay out of Joyce's way. She was faster and stronger than she knew she was, Dark Spear's awakening enhancing her body.

It didn't mean shit when Joyce was still faster and stronger than her, only testing her responses while Huian tried to stay alive, her body nicked and bruised in so many different places where Joyce had gotten through her defences.

Only defending wasn't doing her any good, but Joyce wasn't giving her enough space to atta-

"Ggh_shi-_!"

Huian let out a choked out scream at the hot burning sensation in her stomach, Joyce standing right in front of her as she heard her blood splatter against the floor.

It had to be Joyce's fist buried inside her and Huian's spear dissipated as she lost her control over it, lost her concentration as the pain snatched all of her attention away from it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary**: Nakida's a hacker in the middle of a job to find some information. Except they're not the only one breaking into the building that night - there's a silver-haired guy walking around like cameras don't exist. If he wants to get caught, it's not their problem.

Huian's on guard duty to protect the information they're after. Usually it's quiet - all she has to do is enter the system, keep an eye on the camera feeds and patrol around the clusters of data to make sure no-one gets to them.

Their pasts connect them, even if they don't remember. And the past does tend to come back.

* * *

><p><strong>Twists of Fate<br>**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

><p>It was easier to scan through all the camera feeds, which should have worried Nakida, but right now they grabbed whatever advantage they could get, trying to find Huian.<p>

It was also tempting to connect with the system again, to access all that processing power and speed. Nakida shoved the thought to the side; they weren't willing to go _that_ far. Not yet.

_There_ she was. [Found her.] Huian was on a feed they'd skipped back and they fast forwarded it, syncing up the nearby feeds so they were running at the same time.

She'd gone into a room –Nakida maximised the feed in that room- and that was Joyce. The two disappeared and reappeared in different places, purple blurring in different areas as Nakida kept fast forwarding to what the camera was seeing in the present.

It halted, running at the normal speed with Huian and Joyce standing right in front of each other. No, Huian was leaning forward towards Joyce, looking like she was being supported by Joyce.

At their feet was a puddle of blood that was growing larger, blood dripping down from between them.

Fuck…

xOx

Huian could taste blood. Every breath was a wheezy struggle, her throat closing up as she felt Joyce's Dark Spear tear deeper into her. She couldn't push away; she'd tried, her hands still gripping Joyce's shoulders as the pain increased, but Joyce's other hand was pinning her in place, making sure she couldn't move away.

Her own Dark Spear thundered down her body, a wall of protective rage as it ripped at Joyce's Dark Spear, trying to stop its progress.

Their body. _Theirs_.

It was _her_ body, but it wouldn't be neither of theirs (she wouldn't _have_ a body) if they couldn't stop Joyce.

Whose breathing was as harsh as Huian's was wheezy and Huian rolled her head, trying to see Joyce's face.

Her eyes were glassy, staring, and Huian could see the corners of her eyes were purple and black. That's what she looked like when she was consuming someone.

No, in Min-chul's and Ga-young's memories, Dark Spear hadn't been as widespread. Joyce's Dark Spear was licking out from her eyes, spreading out over her face as Huian watched.

"Shut up," Joyce muttered and the Dark Spear inside Huian flexed, withdrawing a tiny bit.

"_Fuck!_" The strength went out of Huian's legs and it was Joyce's hand that kept her upright.

Joyce hadn't been talking to her though. It had to be the people she'd consumed.

If Huian could keep her distracted…

She could try that.

It would hurt worse than she already was, but it was better than being consumed. At this rate she was going to die anyway, so so long as she could stop Joyce from knowing what Takeo had known, she'd at least done some damage control after fucking up.

Huian gripped harder, trying to get some air in her as she concentrated on all the places that were close to Joyce, where they were touching.

It was nearly all of her front now that she'd slumped forward and Huian let out a shaky breath, directing her Dark Spear to those areas.

Dark Spear's response was sluggish, wanting to keep fighting against Joyce's Dark Spear. Come on, _listen_ to her! This was another way to fight Joyce!

That seemed to reach her Dark Spear and it slid to the areas she wanted.

Huian shuddered, no energy or control to work her mouth or throat, hoping Joyce would keep holding her.

Squeezing her eyes shut, breathing going more erratic as the fire moved through her body, resting at her forearms, torso and chin. Everything pulsed with pain, her heart hammering, trying to rip itself out her chest before Joyce's Dark Spear got to it.

Just a little bit. That's all she had to do. Maybe.

She had to try.

Even with her eyes closed, the world span and she pushed out, trying to get the Dark Spear to do what she wanted.

Needles.

Burning needles stabbing into every pore Dark Spear came out of, reaching her muscles, twisting and locking them up until she couldn't move even if she'd wanted to.

There were clothes in the way but Dark Spear burned through them, intent on their destination.

It took all of Huian's concentration just to breath, surprised her heart hadn't stopped from the strain yet. Maybe Dark Spear had enhanced that too.

"You won't…be able to consume me," Joyce grunted, and it was motivating to know she wasn't the only one struggling.

Huian didn't respond (she couldn't anyway). Let her think that's what she was doing. Keep her distracted.

She could feel her Dark Spear make contact with Joyce's skin, burrowing into it, and Huian grimaced, feeling it absorb some of Joyce's body into itself. She was far too aware of what her Dark Spear was doing, concentrating on that to stay away from her own pain as much as possible.

Her breath caught as she felt Joyce's retaliation, Joyce's Dark Spear tearing at her own.

Everything hurt. Every beat was a new wave of pain. Huian couldn't tell if what she was feeling was her Dark Spear going into Joyce's body or if it was Joyce's Dark Spear invading her own through the path her Dark Spear had made.

Hissing crackling filled Huian's ears. Their Dark Spears or white noise?

"Wait! No!"

Huian twitches at the cry and she managed to tilt her head to look at Joyce.

Most of her face was purple now, her eyes all white, and her hair looked like it was alive, like it was fire.

Huian was shoved away and she hit the floor with a thump, skipping for a short distance.

From this view, Huian could see Joyce's body was the same as her face: the majority of it was purple and black, her feet and mouth the only things left untouched.

"You won't consume me," Joyce hissed, but the last untouched spots were disappearing as Joyce spoke and she sank to her knees, falling over.

Huian's breathing filled her ears as she kept watching, unable to move. Nothing seemed to happen as one second passed, and then another. She could feel Dark Spear slide down to the wound in her gut, encouraging her healing. Huian was morbidly sure she could feel her body reconstructing itself.

A squelching sound reached Huian's ears and Joyce's form was shivering.

No. Not shivering. Shrinking.

It was shrinking until it collapsed, tendrils of Dark Spear reaching up from her corpse and then smacking down again.

All that was left was a large puddle that was in the shape Joyce had fallen in, but it drew back, collecting itself into a more circular shape. It didn't move after that, but Huian could picture it winding towards her and consuming her if it remembered she was there.

The door slid open and shit. Shit shit, she couldn't-

"Huian!"

Hah?

She blinked and Kang-dae's face was in front of hers.

This was familiar.

There was no blood on Kang-dae's face though, no tears. Not yet, anyway.

"Shit. I wasn't fast enough."

And Huian needed to move her mouth, or an arm to stop him before he worked himself up. It was hard to attempt that when everything about her was exhausted.

"Kang…" Ow. She winced, her ribcage refusing to expand. "'m fine." She wasn't dead. In a lot of pain and couldn't move, but it was better than being dead.

"You're not," Kang-dae insisted, his expression crestfallen.

Nnng, fuck. He had a better of her than Huian, but by the look in his eyes, he was probably also seeing Takeo and Tao's deaths.

Taking a few quick breaths, she braced herself and tried to lift an arm.

It was shaking and trembling, but she managed it. It was easier than she expected; Dark Spear's healing must have been kicking in for her entire body.

"Don't-" Kang-dae said, watching her.

Huian hovered her hand over her stomach as Kang-dae watched. "_Not_ my heart…or lungs," she wheezed. She could still recover from this; Takeo hadn't had the time or the apparatus to breathe or beat for him then.

Kang-dae's face was blank until his eyes went wide and he stared at Huian's wound.

…She semi-hoped the grimace was because he'd seen Dark Spear at work rather than the wound.

He'd understood what she'd said, at least.

She flopped her hand down again, not registering when it hit the ground, her skin tingling.

"Joyce…" she said, looking at him. She tried to point with a tilt of her head. It still made her head spin. "Her Dark Spear."

He turned around and didn't say anything for a few seconds. "It consumed her?"

"Mm."

"We can't leave that here, even if it seems inactive," he muttered, getting to his feet.

What was he going to do? He couldn't pick it up and slashing at it wouldn't do anything either.

"Nakida," he said.

[Mmhm?]

"How long would it take for you to find and steal the Union's sensitive information?" He was walking away, towards one of the machines used to evaluate the data being collected in the room.

[Heh. I already know where they are; I think I can get most of them by the time you get here.]

Damn. They were better than Nakida had expected.

"All right." He pulled off the fire extinguisher from the wall, pulling off the pin. He was going to pour water over it?

No, there was machinery in the room; it had to be filled with CO2.

Huian lost consciousness as he started blasting Dark Spear with it.

xOx

Dark Spear _seemed_ to have frosted over, and when M-21 prodded it with a foot, it didn't try to wrap a tendril around his foot. The CO2 wouldn't have done anything to it and if it had, Frankenstein would know what to do. He wrapped a bin bag around it, picking it up without touching it.

Hopefully the shock of the cold would keep it at least sluggish enough to not burn or rip its way out of the bag.

When he looked over at Huian – shit.

He rushed to her side and checked her pulse. It was strong, if a little uneven. And her wound was still closing up, black and purple tendrils writhing over it. He lifted her top away from the wound, in case Dark Spear healed the fabric into her skin.

"Can you control the airflow?" he asked Nakida as he gingerly lifted Huian into his arms. She had moved her arm, so her spinal cord seemed to be undamaged. He hadn't seen her legs more yet, but he couldn't leave _her_ here either.

[Easily. Why?] A beat. [Oh.]

…Right, Nakida wouldn't be used to thinking in terms of how to kill a large of number of people at once. "Forget it," he said, shaking his head. "Just concentrate on stealing their data. Destroy it once you're done." He could come back later if they hadn't abandoned the lab by then.

[…Okay. Meet you back here.]

He nodded, seeing the call close.

It could be so _easy_ - but they had some of the Union's data, so it was better than nothing. Better than what he'd been able to manage himself. Maybe they could decode it and see what plans the Union had.

Maybe. They had to get out first.

Carrying both Huian and the Dark Spear, M-21 left the room.

xOx

The route back was quieter than the route in, no-one stumbling across Kang-dae. Once he was close enough, Nakida left the feeds and went back to their body.

They took in a heaving gasp when they re-entered their body, the _feeling_ of their senses connecting was like slamming face first into a wall. Heartbeat, breathing, hearing, _touch_. It was all grounding them back, back to their sense of self after being the system, having a large wealth of power at their command.

Kang-dae came into their room, and they were still sprawled out across the floor, getting used to having an inner ear again.

"Nakida?"

"Yo." They lifted an arm, waving it. "Nearly there." This adjustment was worse than usual and Nakida _really_ hoped they hadn't left part of them behind in the system.

They got to their feet, one bit at a time, moving every muscle to make sure they had control over it. It seemed like it, and once they were standing, they nodded, calling their cable back into their neck.

"Good thing I bought an extra top," they said, digging it out of their bag. They passed it to Kang-dae.

"How are you feeling?" Kang-dae asked as he put it on.

"Been better; how's Huian?" they asked, peering at her. The feeds had shown the bright red patch in the centre of her stomach, but they hadn't caught the writhing mass in the middle of it. Their skin tingled at the sight. "That's not her intestines, is it."

Kang-dae snorted as he picked Huian up again. "Dark Spear's healing her; she'll need a lot of rest and food once we're out." Nakida placed a jumper over Huian, to cover the blood when they got outside.

Not a blood transfusion? Nakida was sure she should have already died, but Huian didn't seem that pale for the amount of blood they thought she'd lost. There wasn't a trail of blood being left behind either.

"So now what?" Nakida asked as they stepped into the elevator.

"Nng…"

Nakida's eyebrows shot up. Huian was already stirring, her eyes fluttering open.

"Ow…" Huian's eyes weren't focused, thought she was blinking a lot.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Kang-dae said.

"About-?" Huian repeated, huffing.

Kang-dae shook his head. "Not here."

Not where they could still be being recorded.

A few minutes later, the three of them were on a rooftop a few buildings away from the security building. Huian was sitting, nursing a can of juice, a half-eaten sandwich beside her.

Nakida turned to Kang-dae. "So…? What were you thinking about?"

Kang-dae turned away, not looking at them for a few seconds before looking at them both in turn. "I was wondering if you wanted to come home with me."

What?

"There's a few people I want you to meet." Like his father, who'd probably want to know more about Dark Spear. And who would have known them in their previous lives.

"Hm, I'm willing," Huian said, sighing.

When Nakida blinked at her, she shrugged. "I can't go home; the Union might try to grab me again if I go back, or they think I'll try to expose what they did."

Nakida eyed them both and then slowly nodded. "I'll come too." They were curious about what they could find out about their previous life, how much was themselves and how much had been Tao and Dark Spear. "I'd like a break after that." They needed to make sure everything was still there.

A small smile grew on Kang-dae's face. "All right."

* * *

><p>END<p>

* * *

><p>Yup, that's this fic finished! I'm not planning a sequel for this, in case you were wondering; I don't have any plans or ideas for what could happen when they're there.<p> 


End file.
